DHL, MSD to alleviate river blindness
Patients suffering from river blindness and lymphatic filariasis in Africa, Latin America and Middle East may soon heave a sigh of relief, following an agreement reached between DHL and Merik Sharp and Dohme (MSD) to facilitate the delivery of Mectizan to those continents.
A statement signed by DHL’s communications Manager, Daniela Peter said the development would hold a lot of hope to those regions.
Under the new arrangement, which was signed last week DHL will offer at-cost shipping of MECTIZAN from MSD’s facility in Clermont-Ferrand, France to endemic countries through DHL’s reliable air express services. The new agreement builds upon an existing relationship between DHL and MSD and combines the core capabilities of the two companies to ensure rapid and flexible delivery of the drug.
MECTIZAN is an antiparasitic drug discovered, developed and manufactured by MSD. In 1987, Merck established the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP and began a long-term commitment to donate MECTIDAN to treat river blindness worldwide until the disease is eliminated as a public health problem. An estimated 120 million people are at risk of contracting river blindness in 35 developing-world countries.
In 1998, MSD expanded the MDP to include the prevention of another parasitic disease, lymphatic filariasis, in Africa and Yemen where the two diseases co-exist. Lymphatic filariasis threatens mor than 1 billion people, one third of who live in Africa.
“MSD’s mission of putting patients first means it isn’t enough to simply discover and develop novel medicines and vaccines. We also have a responsibility to pursue creative and effective partnerships – such as this one with DHL – that can help bring crucial medicines to people around the world,” said Michel Iguer, Regional Director and Vice President of Europe, Middle East and Africa for MSD.
“This agreement is evidence of DHL’s commitment to using its logistics expertise to benefit the global community.”
Since 1987 MSD has donated more than 400 million doses of MECTIZAN- more than 1.2 billion tablets – for river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.
