Eisai Joins Ground-Breaking Tuberculosis Drug Accelerator Partnership to Discover New Tuberculosis Treatments

News provided by

Eisai Europe Limited

25 Nov, 2013, 04:00 GMT

HATFIELD, England, November 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Eisai announced today that it has become a signatory to the Tuberculosis Drug Accelerator (TBDA) partnership, a ground-breaking initiative that aims to speed up the discovery of essential new treatments for tuberculosis (TB).

Launched in June 2012 through a collaborative agreement between several pharmaceutical companies,[1] research institutions[2] and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the TBDA partnership targets the discovery of new TB drugs by working together on early-stage research. The long-term goal of the partnership is to create a new TB drug combination that has the potential to cure patients in one month only, compared to the six months of treatment required by existing treatments.

As a TBDA member, Eisai will provide targeted sections of its compound libraries for screening against TB and share identified and confirmed hits with other TBDA partners. Eisai will also work cooperatively with other partners to facilitate the development of new therapies for TB.

TB is a contagious disease caused by a bacterial infection that affects the lungs and other organs.[1]  Although it is a curable and preventable disease, TB is the second leading infectious cause of death worldwide, having resulted in the deaths of 1.3 million people in 2012 alone.[1] Tuberculosis can

be cured by taking several strong antibiotics daily for at least six months but many patients fail to complete this treatment because the drugs have unpleasant side-effects and the treatment is complicated.[2]

Through the discovery of new TB drug combinations with the potential to cure patients in one month, rather than six, the TBDA will contribute to minimising the length of treatment and decreasing treatment rates.

Eisai is committed to improving the health and welfare of people around the world by addressing issues in global health such as TB. The involvement in the TBDA underscores Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission; the company's commitment to innovative solutions in disease prevention, cure and care for the health and wellbeing of people worldwide.

--------------------------------------------------

1. AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Sanofi

2. Infectious Disease Research Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rutgers University, Texas A&M University, University of Dundee, Weill Cornell Medical College

Notes to Editors:

About Eisai's Commitment to Improving Global Access to Medicines

Today, it is estimated that some 2.4 billion people around the world live on US$2 or less per day.[3] Most of these 2.4 billion people do not have access to essential health care and treatment despite the availability of effective medicines. This is an international challenge that needs to be solved through collaborations among governments, international organisations such as World Health Organization (WHO), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and pharmaceutical companies.

In line with its human health care (hhc) mission, Eisai is committed to improving global access to medicines over the medium-to-long term through partnership strategies that involve working with governments, international organisations, private entities and non-profit organisations (NPOs). Specifically, the company has developed and is implementing a five-target approach to improve access to medicines worldwide. The five key components are: product creations, strategic solutions, capacity building, quality innovation, and long-term investment.

For further information on Eisai's Access to Medicines initiatives, please visit the Access to Medicines page on the Eisai Global website: http://www.eisai.com/company/atm/index.html

About Eisai

Eisai is one of the world's leading research and development (R&D) based pharmaceutical companies and we define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call human health care (hhc).

Eisai concentrates its R&D activities in three key areas:

  • Neuroscience, including: Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, pain and weight loss
  • Oncology including: anticancer therapies; tumour regression, tumour suppression, antibodies, etc.
  • Vascular/Immunological reaction including: thrombocytopenia, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease

With operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe and its domestic home market of Japan, Eisai employs more than 10,000 people worldwide. From its EMEA Knowledge Centre in Hatfield, UK, Eisai has recently expanded its business operations to include Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Oceania (EMEA). Eisai EMEA has sales and marketing operations in over 20 markets, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia and the Middle East.

For further information please visit our web site http://www.eisai.co.uk

Date of preparation: November 2013

Job code: Corporate-UK2023

References

  1. World Health Organisation. Tuberculosis Fact Sheet. Updated October 2013. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/index.html# [Last accessed November 2013]
  2. Munro et al. Patient Adherence to Tuberculosis Treatment: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research. PLOS Medicine 2007 (4) 1230-45
  3. World Bank. Poverty Overview. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview [Last accessed October 2013]