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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Eliminating lymphatic filariasis (LF)

We have committed to donating as many tablets of albendazole, our anti-parasitic drug, as are needed to eliminate LF.

LF is a disfiguring disease prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Transmitted by mosquitoes, it can lead to severe swelling of the arms, legs, breasts and genitals and thickening of the skin. LF is one of the world’s leading causes of permanent disability, with 1.3 billion people in over 80 countries (approximately one-fifth of the world’s population) at risk of infection.

In 2008, GSK donated 266 million albendazole treatments to 30 countries. This included 130 million tablets to India, the country with the largest LF burden. The economic cost of LF in India is estimated to exceed US$840 million due to treatment costs and reduced working time.

Since the programme began we have donated over one billion tablets and over 180 million people have been treated at least once with albendazole. We estimate that to the end of 2007 66 million babies born in the treated regions have been spared the risk of contracting LF. A study published in the journal Public Library of Science on Neglected Tropical Diseases confirmed the progress already made towards eliminating LF.

This year we decided to double our annual manufacturing capacity for albendazole tablets to 600 million tablets per year by 2010 by opening of a new production line in Nashik, western India.

An additional benefit of the albendazole tablets given for the LF programme is that they also treat intestinal worms. These parasites particularly affect children, causing anaemia and malnutrition, and stunting growth. We estimate that since the beginning of the LF programme, over 170 million albendazole treatments have been administered to children and over 140 million to women of child-bearing age. This will have had a positive impact on the overall health of those infected with intestinal worms.

Each country aiming to eliminate LF must treat all at-risk people once a year for at least five years. So far, Egypt, several Pacific Island countries, Sri Lanka and Zanzibar have completed five annual mass drug administrations (MDAs). These countries are monitoring their populations to evaluate the impact of the programme on the disease. Assessments conducted in Egypt and Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation, showed that LF has been eliminated in most areas of these countries.

Programmes in Tanzania, Madagascar and Burkina Faso have also reported an unexpected benefit of the MDAs, beyond reducing infection rates. In these countries, some patients already infected with LF are describing an alleviation of symptoms after the MDAs, including reduced leg swelling and a reduction in frequency and length of acute attacks (spells of feverishness and loss of energy). Acute attacks are the most incapacitating symptom of LF.

Read more about our approach to LF and the patients who are living with the disease.