Neglected Diseases
Diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and Chagas' disease affect millions of people in the world's most disadvantaged populations. Current treatments are old, and many have severe side effects. To address this emerging issue, several public-private partnerships have been established to develop effective and affordable treatments and to create practical solutions to overcome barriers to progress, particularly in remote areas, such as lack of health care infrastructure, shortages of health workers, poor transportation and distribution networks, and lack of patient awareness.
While research and development for neglected diseases is not a core competency for Abbott, we have expertise and assets that may contribute to solutions.
We continued our partnership with the Institute for OneWorld Health, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company leading a research and development effort to lower the cost of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of malaria in vulnerable populations. OneWorld Health is working to develop microbially derived artemisinin, an effective antimalarial ingredient, at an affordable price, to improve access to people in need. While malaria has become increasingly resistant to frontline medications, drugs containing artemisinin derivatives have been highly successful. Abbott has donated several kilograms of Artesunate, which is an active derivative of artemisinin to this research effort. Abbott also contributes resources in an advisory capacity to this project by sharing our expertise in laboratory testing, commercial production, chemistry and fermentation to help develop low-cost, microbially based artemisinin.
