Sudan

ViiV Healthcare Access to ARVs

In the Least Developed Countries and sub-Saharan Africa GlaxoSmithKline has offered its HIV/AIDS medicines at not-for-profit (nfp) prices since 2001. ViiV Healthcare will maintain this commitment, and will include the additional products in its portfolio. All of ViiV Healthcare's ARVs are now available at not-for-profit prices to public sector customers and not-for-profit organizations in all Least Developed Countries and all of sub-Saharan Africa - 64 countries in total.

Sanofi-aventis Sleeping Sickness Program

Sleeping sickness has reemerged in Africa as a major health threat. In 2001, sanofi-aventis committed USD 25 million over the years 2001-2006 to help the World Health Organization (WHO) to implement a strategy of adequate medicine supplies, disease surveillance and management, plus R&D for new treatments. After five years, WHO and sanofi-aventis' efforts were estimated to have saved 110,000 lives. In 2006, the company renewed its contract with the WHO and expanded it to address several additional 'most neglected diseases' (see separate entry).

Sanofi-aventis 'Most Neglected Diseases' Program

As part of its 5-year agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 to extend its partnership in sleeping sickness (see separate entry), sanofi-aventis also undertook to support a collaborative program with WHO to improve treatment for some 'most neglected diseases', namely leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and Buruli ulcer. Sanofi-aventis is providing USD 6.4 million to WHO over 5 years for development of training, diagnostics and optimization of treatment for leishmaniasis.

Novo Nordisk: Differential Pricing on Insulin

Among the targets for UN Millennium Development Goal 8 is a call for partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries. Since 2001, Novo Nordisk has offered human insulin to the public health systems in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at prices which do not to exceed 20% of the average price in Europe, Japan and North America. In 2009, Novo Nordisk offered this pricing scheme to all 49 LDCs, of which 36 used it to buy insulin at or below this price, compared to 32 in 2008.

Novartis Coartem

Coartem is the first World Health Organization-prequalified fixed-dose, artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) antimalarial, approved by stringent regulatory authorities and on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. Coartem is fast-acting and cures over 97% of patients after a 3-day treatment course. Coartem combines artemether, a derivative of artemisinin (from the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua), with a synthetic substance, lumefantrine, which has not been used as a monotherapy.

Merck Mectizan Donation Program

Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, is a leading cause of infectious blindness in the developing world. The Merck Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) was launched in 1987, when Merck & Co., Inc. announced that it would donate Mectizan (ivermectin), for the treatment of onchocerciasis to all who needed it for as long as needed.

Leprosy Elimination

Novartis is providing free treatment for leprosy patients worldwide through its multi-drug therapy.

International Trachoma Initiative (ITI)

The International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) is the only organization dedicated solely to the elimination of blinding trachoma.

Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI)

The Infectious Disease Research Institute aims to develop vaccines to treat diseases of the poor.

Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP)

The Guinea Worm Eradication Program aims to rid future generations of guinea worm by the year 2005. Today, through the joint efforts of this initiative's many partners, the numbers of this disease have been reduced worldwide by 99 percent: from an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 to fewer than 35,000 reported cases in 2003. Today, it is the last one percent of the disease that is being fought.

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