Global Partnership to Battle Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

A global effort to fight the spread of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) will involve the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, USA), Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA), Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN, USA), and Eli Lilly and Company (Indianapolis, IN, USA).

MDR-TB often develops in patients who do not complete the proper treatment for TB. Once a strain of MDR-TB develops, it can be spread to others just as normal TB is spread. MDR-TB is most likely to occur among patients in developing nations where trained medical personnel and drug supplies are limited.

As part of this pioneering effort, Eli Lilly will transfer its manufacturing technology for two antibiotics necessary for treatment of MRD-TB to nations where the disease is most prevalent; will establish a Center of Excellence for the training of medical personnel in the treatment of MDR-TB; lead an effort to establish a surveillance program to monitor the development of resistance against antibiotics used to treat MRD-TB; invest in facility improvements that will enable the company to double production of one of the essential drugs used to treat MRD-TB; and provide both Lilly antibiotics at a fraction of their cost to WHO treatment programs around the world.

"Eli Lilly and Company has offered an effective model that leverages the capabilities of organizations best able to ensure the diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance of MRD-TB in areas of the world where it is most prevalent and prevent a more widespread outbreak of this dangerous disease,” said David Heymann, M.D., executive director of communicable diseases at the WHO.