October 15, 2019
The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) was held on August 28-30, 2019 in Yokohama, Japan and has been led by the Japanese government in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the African Union Commission (AUC). Our CEO Haruo Naito participated in the official side event entitled “Africa will be free from Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)” co-hosted by the JAGntd (Japan Alliance on Global NTDs) and the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund). This event covered a wide range of topics, including Japan’s efforts in the past on NTDs elimination in Africa, current status and future efforts for elimination of NTDs, as well as the importance of achieving the universal health coverage (UHC). (For the overview of the speakers and programs, please click here .)
As the Japanese corporate initiatives to eliminate NTDs, CEO Haruo Naito introduced the background to provide the lymphatic filariasis (LF) treatment diethylcarbamazine (DEC tablet) free of charge to WHO and our achievement, as well as the research and development of treatments for mycetoma, which the clinical trials have been conducted in Sudan in collaboration with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). Furthermore, he introduced the activities towards NTDs elimination across the sectors such as the London Declaration, which is the largest international public-private partnership in global health, and the GHIT Fund, which is established between the Government of Japan, the Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to aim at reinforcing Japan’s contribution to global health by discovering the new medicines from Japan.
Finally, in order to accelerate the elimination of NTDs, CEO Haruo Naito explained the cases of collection and share of on-site data to visualize the prevalence status and the results of mass drug administration (MDA), and expressed his expectations for improving access to medicines through priority regulatory review and for eliminating NTDs in Africa.
Under its human health care (hhc) philosophy, Eisai seeks to contribute to the health and welfare of people in developing and emerging countries. Once they have recovered their health, they can resume productive activities, which will in turn contribute to economic development and expansion of the middle-income class. Eisai considers this to be a long term investment in creating the markets of the future. By accelerating the development of new medicines for infectious diseases endemic in developing and emerging countries via leveraging partnerships, together with implementing activities to improve access to medicines including raising disease awareness locally and introducing price setting models that take income levels into account, Eisai strives to further contribute to increasing the benefits for patients and their families worldwide.