Eli Lilly partnership offers model to fight resistant TB

Eli Lilly has announced that its Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is transferring manufacturing technology to its partners worldwide in order to boost treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

In South Africa, the company has transferred technology to its partners Aspen Pharmacare, which sold its first batch of cycloserine to Botswana last year, with the firm now producing the compound at a new site in Port Elizabeth.

The site has a capacity of over four billion cycloserine tablets and capsules each year, the drug being an antibiotic from Eli Lilly that is key in the treatment of MDR-TB.

Stavros Nicolaou, executive director of Aspen Pharmacare, said: “The ability to manufacture cycloserine locally is essential to treating the plight of multidrug resistance in South Africa.

“This initiative allows us to directly address this highly contagious disease, which has a tremendous impact on the health of our country and the entire African continent.”

Eli Lilly announced its plans for technology transfer through the public-private Lilly MDR-TB Partnership at the annual meeting of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

Furthermore, the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership boosts access to medicines, trains healthcare workers, increases awareness of diseases and treatment and supports local communities and patients.

In March 2007, Lilly announced the granting of an additional $50 million (25.41 million pounds) of investment to the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership.