Eli Lilly plans $70 mn war on TB

US-based pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly on Thursday announced a $70 million initiative as part of its effort to combat the spread of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in India and other developing countries.

Eli Lilly would transfer its technology to manufacture Capreomycin and Cycloserine, two antibiotics necessary for the treatment of MDR-TB to India and has partnered with Chennai based Shashun Chemicals in this regard, a company release said.

Both the antibiotics would be provided at a fraction of their cost to World Health Organisation Green Light Committee approved DOTS Plus treatment programmes all over the world, it said, adding the value of this discount was approximately $25 million.

DOTS-Plus is a comprehensive management strategy under development and testing that includes the five tenets of the DOTS strategy. DOTS-Plus takes into account specific issues (such as the use of second-line anti-TB drugs) that need to be addressed in areas where there is high prevalence of MDR-TB. Thus, DOTS-Plus works as a supplement to the standard DOTS strategy.

DOTS combines five elements: political commitment, microscopy services, drug supplies, surveillance and monitoring systems, and use of highly efficacious regimes with direct observation of treatment.

Lilly has negotiated stipulations as to how much a company to whom the technology is transferred can charge designated purchasers in emerging or developing nations.

A controlled partner price would provide a margin that can sustain the business while increasing the global supply of these drugs, it said, adding, the company would double its production of Capreomycin from 0.6 tonnes to 1.2 tonnes.

The pharmaceutical major would also invest in improving facilities in China, India and South Africa to double the production of drugs used for fighting the disease.

"The initiative is all the more significant for India because the prevalence of MDR-TB is fast increasing and may attain unmanageable proportions with far reaching implications," Rajiv Gulati, CMD, Eli Lilly (India) said.

India has the largest (18 million) cases of tuberculosis in the world accounting for about 1300 deaths per day in the country.