Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that Eisai has signed the Kigali Declaration announced at the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) on June 23, 2022 in Kigali, the capital of the Republic of Rwanda, and expressed Eisai’s continued support for the elimination of NTDs towards the achievement of a road map for NTDs 2021-2030 launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). Based on the human health care (hhc) philosophy, Eisai has positioned the elimination of NTDs as an important area of focus and aims to achieve social good in the form of reducing health disparities (please click here to watch the message video).
Also, Eisai’s CEO Haruo Naito has been appointed as one of the ‘100 Global Leaders Committed to Eliminating NTDs’.
NTDs include 20 diseases that the WHO identifies as tropical diseases which human race must overcome. In 2012, the pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank, and governments of NTD-endemic countries pledged their support to the London Declaration, a coordinated effort to eliminate NTDs and the largest international public-private partnership in the field of global health to date. Since the London Declaration, the pharma industry has contributed to the elimination of NTDs via supply of medicines which resulted in donation of 14 billion high-quality treatments. Also, tremendous achievements have been made through NTDs elimination activities of public-private partnership. Forty-six countries have eliminated at least one NTD and 600 million people no longer require interventions against NTDs. Despite such progress, more than 1.7 billion people remain threatened by NTDs and continuous coordinated effort through strong partnership is needed.
The Kigali Declaration, the successor of the London Declaration, is commitment of stakeholders for the elimination of NTDs. Through people-centered approach by multi-sectoral partnerships, the Kigali Declaration aims to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3 target on NTDs and achieve the targets of the WHO’s road map for NTDs 2021-2030 by eradicating two NTDs, eliminating at least one NTD in 100 countries and decreasing the number of people requiring interventions for NTDs by 90%. Thereby, decrease in suffering, poverty, disability and prejudice of people due to NTDs as well as improvement of participation in society is expected.
Eisai has been manufacturing and supplying diethylcarbamazine (DEC) tablets, a lymphatic filariasis (LF) treatment, free of charge to the WHO for the elimination of LF. To date, 2.05 billion DEC tablets manufactured at Eisai’s Vizag Plant in India have been supplied to 29 countries (as of May 2022). Although LF has been eliminated in 17 countries and the number of infected people has declined by 74% since 2000, 860 million people worldwide are still exposed to the risk of infection. Eisai is committed to providing DEC tablets for free to endemic countries that need DEC until LF is eliminated in these countries. Furthermore, Eisai is working on comprehensive approaches such as support for the mass drug administrations (MDAs), disease awareness and improvements in sanitation.
Furthermore, Eisai is proactively engaged in development of new treatments for NTDs through partnerships with global research organizations. Utilizing the funding from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) and others, Eisai is conducting joint development of new treatments such as a new treatment for LF in collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool as well as treatments for mycetoma and leishmaniasis in collaboration with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
Based on hhc philosophy, Eisai further strengthens collaborations with global partners and aims to realize a world without burden of NTDs.
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Eisai Co., Ltd.
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