GSK donates drug to wipe out elephantiasis

UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline has welcomed data published in the March 25 issue of The Lancet which show that one of the world's most disfiguring and disabling parasitic diseases, Lymphatic Filariasis (commonly known as elephantiasis), can be eliminated. The UK firm supplies albendazole, one of the agents used in the mass drug administration program to combat the disease and GSK has affirmed its committment to donate as much of the drug as required to eliminate it completely.

LF is caused by a microscopic, parasitic worm, spread by mosquitoes, that invades the human lymphatic system. The program to eradiacte it is a global partnership with a 20-year timeline and The Lancet study includes findings from Egypt, where the World Health Organization's LF annual drug distribution program has been implemented.

According to Gary Weil, senior author of the paper, "our assessments suggest that the Egyptian campaign to eliminate LF has achieved its goals in most areas of the country." Local scientists found that community parasite loads (a broad measure of infection) declined more than 90% after the program while antibody tests in five year-old school children showed that levels of exposure to infection declined 99%-100%.