EISAI TO PARTICIPATE IN ACCESS ACCELERATED,GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP TO ADDRESS RISE OF NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASESACCELERATING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE IN LOW AND LOWER-MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES

Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) announced today that it is participating in Access Accelerated, a global partnership to advance access to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention, treatment and care in low and lower-middle income countries.

Access Accelerated is the first multi-stakeholder, international initiative in the field of NCDs, consisting of 22 major pharmaceutical companies, including Eisai, in collaboration with the World Bank Group and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). The aim of Access Accelerated is to work towards the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing the number of premature deaths from NCDs in low and lower-middle income countries by one-third by 2030. In addition to the individual programs to improve access to health care run by each of the participating companies, this initiative will conduct pilots for improving prevention, treatment and care of NCDs in collaboration with the World Bank Group. Furthermore, in collaboration with the UICC, this initiative will support the provision of effective, sustainable diagnosis and treatment, for the purpose of improving cancer treatment and care.

To address global NCDs issues, Eisai has been running various initiatives in each country to improve access, including an Alzheimer's disease awareness and early detection campaign in China, and the introduction of tiered pricing, an affordable pricing model for our global product anticancer agent Halaven® in seven Asian countries, including India, Thailand and the Philippines, where prices are set at several levels in accordance with the income levels of patients.

With regard to Eisai's participation in Access Accelerated, CEO Haruo Naito commented “One of the missions of the modern pharmaceutical industry is to make drugs accessible to all patients, no matter their socioeconomic status. In line with its human health care (hhc) philosophy, Eisai is pleased to take part in initiatives like Access Accelerated to help address the social and medical needs of patients and their caregivers. For Eisai, pursuing solutions for global access challenges is both our responsibility and a long-term investment into the future.”

Media Inquiries:

Public Relations Department,
Eisai Co., Ltd.

+81-(0)3-3817-5120

< Notes to editors >

1.About Access Accelerated

Access Accelerated is a first-of-its-kind, multi-stakeholder collaboration focused on improving NCDs care. Involving more than 20 pharmaceutical companies, the initiative works with partners such as World Bank Group and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to help overcome a variety of access barriers to NCDs medicines in low-income and lower-middle income countries. Access Accelerated will support multi-stakeholder dialogue and begin on-the-ground work to improve NCDs prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Contributing companies include: Almirall, Astellas, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Chugai, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Eli Lilly and Company, EFPIA, GlaxoSmithKline, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), Johnson & Johnson, JPMA, Menarini, Merck KGaA, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, PhRMA, Roche, Sanofi, Shionogi, Sumitomo Dainippon, Takeda and UCB. IFPMA will act as the Secretariat for Access Accelerated.

2.About Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

NCDs, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and mental health disorders are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. An estimated 80% of NCD-related deaths occur in low and lower-middle income countries, and countermeasures for NCDs have become an urgent issue.

3.About Eisai's initiatives for improving Access to Medicine

Eisai considers its activities for improving access to medicine in developing and emerging countries as a form of long-term investment for future growth, and is currently running various proactive, sustainable initiatives. For more information, please access the following link:
http://www.eisai.com/company/atm/index.html