Novartis has endorsed the Kigali Declaration on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by announcing a $250m investment over five years to fight against NTDs and malaria.
The declaration aims to increase government support and secure commitments to achieve the SDG3 target on NTDs and to deliver the targets set out in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap.
Country leaders, including presidents, community and business leaders, and philanthropists attended The Kigali Summit on Malaria and NTDs to renew high-level commitments and to galvanise action to end these diseases.
$100m of the investment will be used to advance research and development of Novartis’ NTD programme, that includes Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, dengue and cryptosporidiosis.
The other $150m will be used to advance the clinical development programmes of its three novel drug candidates to combat the emerging resistance to malaria treatment artemisinin and develop a new formula for babies under 5kg with malaria.
1.7 billion people around the world are affected by NTDs, which are prevalent in tropical areas and mostly affect impoverished communities, causing devastating health, social and
economic consequences.
According to the 2021 World Malaria Report, there were 241 million cases of malaria and 627,000 malaria deaths in 2020. Children under five are particularly at risk, with malaria taking the life of a child every minute in Africa.
Novartis, working with partners, has delivered more than one billion treatments for malaria to date, including more than 450 million paediatric treatments, without profit to malaria-endemic countries.
Van Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, said: “Over the past decade, great progress has been made against NTDs, but there is still a lot more work to be done. Novartis will continue progressing our longstanding commitment to helping realise a world free of NTDs.
“Today, by endorsing the Kigali Declaration and pledging to invest $250m, we aim to accelerate progress toward elimination of these diseases, which continue to cause suffering and stigma for millions of people around the globe.”
Novartis was among the original endorsers of the London Declaration on NTDs in 2012, committing to a multidrug therapy (MDT) donation to support global efforts to eliminate leprosy. A subsequent commitment of $100m was made in 2018 towards the fight against malaria.