Togo

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.

Sanofi-aventis & EPIVAC

EPIVAC (from EPIdemiology & VACcinology) is a comprehensive, one-year, on-the-job professional training program in epidemiology, applied computing, vaccinology and management of health programs for public health officers in West Africa, culminating in an inter-university diploma in 'Organization and Management of Public Immunization Programs in Developing Countries' awarded by the universities of Cocody-Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and Paris-Dauphine (France). The program is a Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis, contribution to the GAVI Alliance.

PMTCT: Abbott Rapid HIV Test Donation Program

Each year, approximately 800,000 babies around the world become infected with HIV during their mothers´ pregnancy, during birth or through breastfeeding.

Pfizer Diflucan Partnership

Pfizer created the Diflucan Partnership in 2000 to provide treatment for two AIDS-related fungal infections in developing countries. Since the program's inception, Pfizer has over provided USD 1.1 billion of products and its program partners distribute millions of Diflucan (fluconazole) treatments free of charge to governments and NGOs in 63 developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Pfizer has also provided training and education materials to 20,000 healthcare professionals.

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.

Merck & Co., Inc. HIV/AIDS Programs - Africa

In 2009, with support from The Merck Company Foundation, the Earth Institute at Columbia University launched a community health worker training program to strengthen community health services for over 400,000 people in 10 African countries as part of the Millennium Villages project. The initiative aims to develop a professional cadre of 800 community health workers to fill a critical gap in primary healthcare provision for rural communities throughout Africa.

Leprosy Elimination

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

LEEM Quality Control Program

Counterfeit and substandard medicines are a major threat to health in developing countries, many of which lack the technical resources to identify inferior quality medicines. To help alleviate this situation, the association representing the R&D pharmaceutical industry in France, Les Entreprises du Medicament (LEEM), started a program in 2006 to allow developing countries to send samples of suspect medicines to France for analysis. To ensure impartiality, the LEEM pays for samples to be analyzed by an independent expert body, the Central Humanitaire Medico Pharmaceutique (CHMP).

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