News

Posted On: 11/02/2005

GSK Opens $3 Million Manufacturing Plant in South Africa to Help Fight Neglected Diseases

PharmaManufacturing.com

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Nov. 2 opened a new $3 million facility in Cape Town, South Africa, to produce its de-worming agent albendazole. The factory will manufacture the tablets for what is on track to be the largest drug donation program in global pharmaceutical industry history, to eradicate Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) over a 20-year period.

Elephantiasis of legs, a typical symptom of LF. Source: WHO. Photo courtesy of GSK's website.

GSK has been working with the World Health Organization for the past seven years on a program to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by halting the transmission of the disease. LF threatens over 1 billion people in 80 countries and 120 million people are already affected, 40 million of whom are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease.

JP Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline's CEO, said: "This week I have seen this program in action in Ghana. After four years, Ghana has hit its target of treating all ten million people at risk from the disease.

"To date 12 countries have launched LF elimination programs in Africa reaching over 20 million people. These annual mass drug administration efforts have resulted in a significant decline in the level of infection. Today, I am calling for the other 27 countries which are endemic with LF in Africa to sign up and help transform the lives of millions of people.

"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. 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, GSK has provided, free of charge, over 400 million 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.

For more information on LF, visit www.gsk.com/filariasis/qanda.htm.