PRNewswire - December 7, 2005

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) today announced the results of a new survey which show that, since the United Nations announced its Millennium Development Goals in 2000, the industry has created 126 health partnerships that have provided enough health interventions to help up to 539 million people, or more than two-thirds the population of sub-Saharan Africa (1).

During this time, the pharmaceutical industry has made available medicines, vaccines, equipment, health education and manpower worth $4.38 billion (2), with the cost of donated medicines valued conservatively at their wholesale price.

Dr. Daniel Vasella, President of the IFPMA, Chairman and CEO of Novartis, said that, "the new IFPMA data show that the pharmaceutical industry is clearly helping people in the world's poorest countries to lead healthier, more productive and more hopeful lives. However, like our governmental and private sector partners in international development, we recognize the enormity of the public health challenges raised by the UN Millennium Development Goals and know that continued success will require even more collaboration, creativity and hard work. Our industry stands ready to do its part."

Dr. Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, stated that "without substantial commitment by businesses, governments and NGOs, we cannot hope to achieve the vital aims of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The IFPMA survey shows that the pharmaceutical industry, working in partnership with national governments and international organizations such as ours, is a necessary and important partner for sustainable development programs in public health."

The industry survey data released today (3), cover 126 such partnership programs that research-based pharmaceutical companies have instituted to help address health problems in developing countries. In terms of number of programs and number of patients reached, the ten most significant diseases addressed by these industry initiatives are Elephantiasis (Lymphatic Filariasis), Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, Influenza, Malaria, Polio, River Blindness (onchocerciasis), Sleeping Sickness, Trachoma and Tuberculosis.

"Over the years, individual pharmaceutical companies have set up a variety of on-going programs addressing developing world health needs, but until this IFPMA survey, we did not have an accurate, overall understanding of our industry's collective contribution to helping people in the world's poorest and most needy countries. This is now more transparent and the picture we see is an encouraging one, and a benchmark by which we can measure future progress," said Dr. Vasella.

"Our industry has also learned from its experiences that the health of people in developing countries cannot be improved simply by increasing the amount of drugs that our companies donate. It also requires more clean water, better sanitation, improved clinics and hospitals as well as better training and retention of healthcare workers. Pharmaceutical companies are directly providing more and more of this kind of grass-roots help."

"However, we are not experts in international development, which is why our assistance programs increasingly tend to take the form of public and private sector partnerships that draw on the expertise and dedication of international donors, government health agencies and non-governmental organizations at all levels," Dr. Vasella explained.

(1) The survey measured the number of people potentially receiving help by counting (a) the delivery of sufficient medicine to cure one person of one disease, (b) the provision of a course of therapy sufficient to manage one disorder in one person for one year, (c) provision of sufficient vaccine to immunize one person against one disease for at least one year, or (d) delivery of a proven program of health education to one person. These metrics were used because, while companies know the number of doses they make available, they have a less precise view of the number of patients actually treated The total number of people receiving health assistance may be reduced if individuals are treated more than once by the same program or receive help from more than one program, but this is very difficult to quantify.

(2) This valuation includes cash contributions, donated drugs, diagnostics and vaccines valued at wholesale price, and other in-kind contributions such as direct provision of health care services, education and training, and infrastructure development and support, for developing countries only (the 153 countries classified as low or medium income by the World Bank). It excludes the value foregone of drugs sold at preferential prices and assistance provided via long-term health development programs in other countries, as well as all industry emergency relief contributions to natural disasters in developed countries, as with Hurricane Katrina, or in developing countries, as with the Indian Ocean tsunami. It also excludes spending on R&D into neglected diseases, disproportionately affecting people in developing countries.

(3) The survey includes data submitted by IFPMA members through 2 December 2005. Some companies have provided interim data for 2005 to-date, but final 2005 totals for all companies will not be available until 2006.

About the IFPMA:

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization representing national industry associations and companies from both developed and developing countries. Member companies of the IFPMA are research-based developers and manufacturers of pharmaceutical and biotech medicines, as well as vaccines. In the research and development pipeline, the pharmaceutical industry is working on more than 700 new medicines and vaccines to address a wide range of global disease threats, including cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and malaria.

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