Bristol-Myers Squibb to provide grants for hepatitis initiatives

Bristol-Myers Squibb has provided a series of grants to support a new scheme aimed at improving hepatitis diagnosis and prevention in China and India.

As part of its Delivering Hope: Awareness, Prevention and Care umbrella programme, the company's Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation will be offering funding to national and regional government health, charitable non-profit and advocacy organisations.

Among the recipients will be the Chinese Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control, the Shanghai Charity Foundation and the Liver Foundation in West Bengal, which will use the money to carry out vaccination and public outreach schemes.

The funding will help to address the heavy burden created by hepatitis B and C in China and India, areas which account for almost 50 percent of all global cases of these diseases.

John Damonti, president of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, said: "The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation continues to harness expertise and resources in community-based programmes and leverage those best practices to help others."

Last week, the company announced the completion of its acquisition of Inhibitex, a specialist developer of hepatitis C treatments.