According to the company, the project is on track to be the largest drug donation program in global pharmaceutical industry history. The project has the aim of eradicating the disease over a period of 20 years.
GSK has been working with the World Health Organization for the past seven years on a program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) by halting the transmission of the disease.
LF threatens over a billion people in 80 countries and 120 million people are already affected, 40 million of whom are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease.
“The world rightly focuses much attention on AIDS, TB and malaria, but we mustn’t fall into the trap of forgetting those diseases, such as LF, which cause enormous suffering and poverty,” said JP Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline. “With the right will and with continuing efforts, LF could be the second disease in history to be eliminated.”
This year, GSK expects to donate 140 million treatments of albendazole to 40 countries worldwide. Since the inception of the program in 1998, the company has provided over 400 million free albendazole treatments to more than 80 million people worldwide. The company has committed to provide as much albendazole as required to eliminate this disfiguring and debilitating disease.