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Eisai Pharmatechnology & Manufacturing has begun supply of diethylcarbamazine citrate 100 mg tablets produced at its Visakhapatnam plant to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The initial shipment of the tablets aimed at curbing lymphatic filariasis, commonly referred to as elephantiasis, will reach the Pacific Island nations of Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Fiji.
Visakhapatnam-headquartered, Indian subsidiary of the Japanese pharma major Eisai, will support the WHO efforts to eliminate the problem in developing and emerging countries, according to Sanjit Singh Lamba, President and Managing Director.
MDA programmes
An estimated 6.25 million people living in at-risk communities will benefit from mass drug administration (MDA) programmes.
Eisai is an active partner and signatory to the London Declaration, a global public-private partnership that aims to eliminate ten neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including lymphatic filariasis, by 2020.
As part of its commitment to this global initiative, Eisai has agreed to supply 2.2 billion DEC tablets to WHO for use in national MDA programmes, free-of-cost, a company press release said.
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is a parasitic disease that is transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito.
Once transmitted, it can cause lymphatic dysfunction and lead to serious manifestations such as lymphoedema, causing painful and disfiguring manifestations of the disease.
Currently, an estimated 120 million people are already affected and more than 1.4 billion people are at risk of this disease, globally.
High-quality DEC (one of the drugs used to treat lymphatic filariasis) is in short supply worldwide and is not easily accessible to at-risk populations in lymphatic filariasis-endemic countries.
Having started the production of DEC at its Visakhapatnam plant in August 2013, Eisai has now begun to provide a steady supply over a seven-year period from 2013 to 2020 for distribution through WHO's MDA programmes to some 250 million people living in at-risk communities in 26 targeted countries.
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