Activities

The Lilly Partnership is comprised of 18 public and private partners supporting a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy. Working primarily in the four countries most burdened by MDR-TB including, China, India, South Africa and Russia, the Partnership promotes community support and patient advocacy; implements MDR-TB health-care treatment and training programs, and strengthens surveillance of drug resistance; transfers Lilly drug-manufacturing technology to local pharmaceutical companies and supplies medicines at concessionary prices; conducts research for new drug discovery; and works with policymakers to raise awareness and prevent the spread of MDR-TB.

With Partnership operations in some 60 countries worldwide, Lilly invested an additional $65 million in 2007 to combat MDR-TB, bringing its total commitment to $135 million for long-term, sustainable initiatives. With the help of our partners, affiliates, global leaders, and key decision-makers, we will continue to fight MDR-TB in 2008 and beyond.

Community Support and Patient Advocacy

Our partners understand that meaningful changes must occur in the communities where MDR-TB patients live and work. The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership has helped create programs to ensure that patients comply with the complete course of treatment. The Partnership also works to empower patients by eliminating the stigma of the disease in communities and in workplaces. For example, in India, the Partnership is working through a World Economic Forum training program to educate employers and employees on how to identify and treat MDR-TB. In the United Kingdom, the nonprofit TB Alert, has partnered with Paul Thorn, an MDR-TB survivor and advocate, to launch www.tbsurvivalproject.org, a website designed to engage MDR-TB patients worldwide. In Kazakhstan, Romania, and most recently, Uzbekistan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is implementing awareness and anti-stigma campaigns focused on community outreach and psychological support.

Treatment, Training and Surveillance

Winning the fight will take more than providing access to medicines. Battling MDR-TB requires education and training around the world. The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is educating health care workers to recognize, treat and monitor the spread of the disease, and is empowering them to share their knowledge by training others. The International Council of Nurses, the International Hospital Federation, and the World Medical Association have created global training materials for nurses, hospital managers, and physicians to improve the treatment, prevention, and management of MDR-TB. In Russia, Partners in Health has trained doctors to diagnose and treat MDR-TB in every single territory across the vast continent. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed a cutting-edge laboratory information management system that will enable counting, monitoring, and reporting of confirmed MDR-TB cases.

Transferring Technology

One of the primary goals of the Lilly MDR-TB partnership is to increase the supply of high-quality, affordable medicines to the people who need them most. Since 2003, Lilly has shared its formulas, trademarks, and technologies with manufacturing partners in countries where the burden of MDR-TB is highest. These manufacturing partners include Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, Hisun Pharmaceutical in China, Shasun Chemicals and Drugs in India, and SIA International in Russia. In addition to transferring technology, Lilly provides financial assistance to purchase the equipment necessary to manufacture the medications. This approach not only enables access to medicines at lower prices for MDR-TB patients, but also supports local economies and the manufacturing of high-quality medicines. Lilly works with Purdue University to share Good Manufacturing Practices with these facilities, raising overall standards for safety and environmental stewardship.

Research and Development of New Drugs

MDR-TB can be treated with existing medicines, but the regimen is time intensive and requires isolation from family and friends. In addition, other deadly strains of tuberculosis, known as extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have emerged, resulting in an even greater urgency to discover and develop new drugs. Lilly has established a nonprofit early phase drug discovery initiative in collaboration with the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health, and other groups in the United States. The goal of the initiative is to tightly integrate medicinal chemistry expertise from the pharmaceutical industry with academic expertise in chemistry, microbiology, and TB, particularly basic biology genetics and molecular biology. People involved in the initiative will scour millions of molecules in medicinal libraries donated by Lilly and another manufacturer and work with other collaborators to identify and develop promising new drug candidates. The entity works closely with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), also a nonprofit, product-development partnership, to enhance their early-stage pipeline and to ensure coordination of efforts.

Awareness and Prevention

The Partnership works with policymakers to support new thinking on programs designed to curb the spread of MDR-TB. The Partnership is also committed to encouraging the appropriate use of medicines in line with World Health Organization (WHO) standards of treatment, because compliance with this effective regimen saves lives and slows the evolution of multidrug-resistant strains. The Partnership fully supports the WHO DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course) program, which places patients under the supervision of a health care worker to ensure appropriate and complete treatment.

Adapted with permission from Lilly MDR-TB website February 2009