Novartis Foundation commemorates World Leprosy Day with its continued efforts to go the last mile toward elimination - Seite 2

Significant progress in the fight against leprosy has been one of the greatest public health successes. Global figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) on leprosy highlight these early successes, showing that the global burden of leprosy has been reduced by 95% since the 1980s. This is due in large part to the widespread availability of multidrug therapy (MDT) which has reached 16 million patients since 1981.

However, the case detection rate (incidence) for leprosy has now plateaued at about 200,000-250,000 new diagnoses per year over the past 10 years and the disease remains endemic in high-burden pockets in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.[1]

New diagnoses occur in children as well as adults, which indicates continued transmission of the disease, and too many patients are diagnosed late and with irreversible disabilities.

The challenge of the last mile in the fight against leprosy is to interrupt transmission.

In 2014, the Novartis Foundation launched a new leprosy elimination strategy developed with the top leprosy and disease elimination experts. The strategy includes four pillars: early detection and treatment, contact tracing and preventative treatment, strengthening of surveillance systems to become action-oriented and the development of diagnostic tools for faster and earlier diagnosis.

History of Novartis and the Novartis Foundation in the fight against leprosy
Multidrug therapy (MDT) consists of three drugs (rifampicin, clofazimine and dapsone), two of which (rifampicin and clofazimine) were developed in the research laboratories of Novartis. MDT has made it possible to treat patients, interrupt the transmission of leprosy and prevent disabilities. Even some patients with the severest form of the disease show visible clinical improvement within weeks of starting treatment.

Novartis and the Novartis Foundation have a long-term commitment to leprosy treatment and control. Since 2000, Novartis has donated more than 56 million blister packs valued at approximately USD 90 million through the World Health Organization (WHO), helping to treat more than six million leprosy patients worldwide.

In 2015, Novartis renewed its pledge with the WHO to work to end leprosy by extending its donation of MDT medicines to treat leprosy to all patients worldwide through the year 2020. Overall it is expected that the program will reach an estimated 1.3 million patients during the next five years. This is part of the company's commitment in 2012 to the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases.