Gilead Sciences and the World Health Organization (WHO) are doubling down on a pact to eliminate deadly parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis (VL) through an expanded collaboration that focuses on supplying treatment to East African countries over the next five years.
The agreement sees Gilead donating more than 400,000 vials of its AmBisome liposome injection plus $9.2 million in added financial support through 2030, the company said in a Thursday press release. The donations will be centered on countries that make up about 74% of the global VL burden, covering Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nepal and others.
“Ending visceral leishmaniasis is within reach because of sustained commitment and investment,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day commented. “Through the work to expand access to diagnosis and treatment for the disease, we have already made significant progress in endemic regions. With this expanded collaboration and stronger focus on East Africa, we will accelerate progress toward elimination and help ensure more people can access the care they need to survive.”
AmBisome became the first FDA-approved VL treatment in 1997 and has since helped to taper down disease burden across the globe, including in Southwest Asia, where Gilead and the WHO’s partnership has reduced new cases of the disease by more than 95% since 2005.
“This agreement underscores the power of strategic partnerships in advancing global health priorities. Through our collaboration with Gilead Sciences, WHO is better equipped to support countries in accelerating the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis as a public health problem,” assistant director-general of health promotion, disease prevention and care, Jeremy Farar, Ph.D., noted. “Over the next five years, this collaboration will help expand access to essential tools, foster innovation, and reinforce health systems where the burden is greatest.”
The new pact between the company and the public health agency follows years of collaboration toward this mission, with the most recent three-year contract extension ending in 2025. That agreement was estimated at $11.3 million and included financial assistance toward improved access to diagnoses and treatment in impacted communities, enabling national programs to “consolidate the gains made over the years and move towards validation of elimination,” head of prevention and care at the WHO department of control of neglected tropical diseases, Daniel Argaw Dagne, said at the time.
VL is considered the second-deadliest parasitic disease after malaria and is endemic in 80 countries worldwide. The severe disease is transmitted through bites from infected sandflies and attacks internal organs, prompting prolonged fever, weight loss, anemia and other symptoms. If left untreated, VL is fatal in more than 95% of cases, disproportionally impacting people in “some of the world’s poorest regions,” according to Gilead.
Gilead has long worked to expand access to its medicines through collaborations with global partners. A recently expanded agreement with the Global Fund and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) aims to spread the reach of its twice-yearly HIV prevention injection Yeztugo to a total of three million people in high-incidence, resource-limited countries through 2028. However, this supply agreement has been called out by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which said last month that the plan is “not nearly enough” to make a dent in the global HIV epidemic.