Company Joins Global Initiative to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases
In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), 13 pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E. governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other global health organizations have pledged to bring a unique focus to defeating these diseases. NTDs together affect 1.4 billion people worldwide, most of whom are among the world’s poorest.
At an event January 30 at the Royal College of Physicians in London, the group – including CEO Lamberto Andreotti and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- announced that its cumulative efforts would:
- Sustain or expand existing drug donation programs to meet demand through 2020;
- Share expertise and compounds to accelerate research and development of new drugs; and
- Provide more than US$785 million to support R&D efforts and strengthen drug distribution and implementation programs.
New commitments from the participating organizations will close the funding gap to eradicate Guinea worm disease and expedite progress toward the 2020 goals of: elimination for lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness and leprosy, and control of soil-transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas and visceral leishmaniasis.
The organizations also signed onto the “London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases,” in which they pledged new levels of collaborative effort and tracking of progress.
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s participation in the NTD initiative reflects the company’s commitment to working with industry, governments and global health organizations to address global health issues. As part of this coordinated effort, Bristol-Myers Squibb will provide access to select proprietary compound libraries to third parties, including Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), to help develop potential new medicines for targeted NTDs.
In addition, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation announced in October a collaboration with the WHO to strengthen community-based care of tuberculosis including HIV co-infection in five African countries. The Foundation will provide WHO with technical assistance through community care experts from the SECURE THE FUTURE program.
Many companies and organizations have worked for decades to fight NTDs. This coordinated partnership will help revolutionize the way these and other diseases are fought now and in the future.
“This innovative approach must serve as a model for solving other global development challenges and will help millions of people build self-sufficiency and overcome the need for aid,” Gates said.