Novartis joins malaria prevention group

from Hays Pharma:

Novartis has become the first healthcare company to join a malaria consortium which aims to end all deaths caused by the disease in Africa by 2015.

The pharmaceutical company announced its decision to join United Against Malaria (UAM) after the group's chairman and chief executive, Dr Daniel Vasella, delivered Novartis' 250 millionth malaria treatment to a hospital in Africa.

Dr Vasella delivered the landmark Coartem treatment, which has a cure rate of 95 per cent according to the company, to the Mwananyamala District Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The chairman said: "With 250 million treatments provided and an estimated 630,000 lives saved, the Novartis Malaria Initiative is the industry's largest access-to-medicines programme in the developing world."

He added treating malaria requires a collaborative effort and UAM is a promising way to relieve unnecessary suffering due to malaria.

Novartis was recently requested to provide more information on its latest vaccine for meningococcal disease after the US Food and Drug Administration asked for more clinical data on the immunisation.