The international pharmaceutical company, Aventis, is to contribute US $25 million to combat sleeping sickness, the World Health Organisation said in a statement on Thursday. The money is to be disbursed over the next five years to support drug donations, and surveillance and control activities in the most affected countries. The funding is also to be used to invest in new research into the disease.
Another pharmaceutical giant, Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to support,
for about one year, the production of Eflornithine, a drug essential in
treating sleeping sickness.
A Swiss drug-maker, Novartis, has said that it will reduce the price of its malaria drug, known as Co-Artem. It will now be sold at cost price - US $2. Co-Artem has proven effective in fighting various strands of malaria that have become resistant to older drugs.
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