In a meeting with former US president and founder of The Carter Center, Jimmy Carter, as well as global health thought leaders from around the world, GlaxoSmithKline announced that it has made a $250,000 donation to The Carter Center to assist the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia with launching a programme to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF). The programme will be launched in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, currently known as the most LF-endemic part of the country. The donation to The Carter Center will help enable a two-year initiative to scale up mass drug administration for LF there.
The announcement was made during a celebration for the 10th anniversary of GSK's commitment to the Global Programme to Eliminate LF at The Carter Center in Atlanta. LF remains one of the seven diseases deemed eradicable by the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, along with polio, mumps, rubella, pork tapeworm, Guinea worm disease, and measles. Since the LF programme began a decade ago, it has prevented 6.6 million children from acquiring LF. At the event, GSK also stated the company would scale up its manufacturing to quadruple the supply of medicine to the programme.
Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, reaffirmed the healthcare company's commitment to global public health, with a focus on diseases of the developing world, stating, "It is truly humbling to be a part of a programme that has managed to treat 570 million people in 48 countries. GSK is proud of the role we have played in the LF programme and we are fully committed to ridding the world of this disease. For this reason, we are increasing our manufacturing capacity so that by 2010 we will be able to supply four times as much albendazole as we do today."
A clear example of the company's long-term commitment, the Global Programme to Eliminate LF relies on the donation of two drugs necessary for LF elimination - (albendazole and Mectizan, respectively) - from GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co, Inc - in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). The programme's goals are two-fold: eliminate LF as a public health problem by 2020; and alleviate physical, social and economic hardship in individuals who have LF-induced disability.
Over the past decade the programme, supported by the Global Alliance to Eliminate LF, has become the most rapidly scaled-up drug administration programme in public health history. It is on track to be the largest drug donation programme ever supported by the pharmaceutical industry. This month the one-billionth albendazole tablet will be donated by GSK. Several countries have completed the five-year administration programme needed to achieve elimination, including Egypt and Sri Lanka; and data shows the programme is on track to successfully eliminate the disease in those countries.
Jimmy Carter said, "We stand at the cusp of major breakthroughs in the elimination and eradication of a number of tropical diseases, notably lymphatic filariasis, Guinea worm disease and polio. None of these advances would be possible without the collaboration and commitment of both the public and private sectors. I applaud GlaxoSmithKline for its leadership in helping to shape the ways in which we address the challenges of diseases of the developing world, and I thank them for the past decade of partnership with The Carter Center." The Carter Center has assisted the Ministry of Health of Nigeria with providing over 22 million treatments for LF since 2000.
Witty confirmed that GSK has begun building a manufacturing line that will result in a four-fold increase in the current global capacity to produce albendazole tablets. The new facility, to be built in Nashik, India, will enable GSK to produce more that 600 million tablets a year by 2010. GSK will invest nearly £200,000 (approximately $300,000) in the facility as well as convert existing equipment to produce the tablets. This dramatic increase in capacity will improve the lives of over 550 million people in India who live at risk of developing this debilitating condition, which currently costs India an estimated $840 million each year due to treatment costs and reduced working time.