Eisai gains WHO prequalification for DEC; launches high-dose Aricept in Korea

Japanese drug major Eisai (TYO: 4523) has received prequalification from the World Health Organization for diethylcarbamazine citrate(DEC) 100mg tablets manufactured at its Vizag Plant in India for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis, a neglected tropical disease (NTD).

The approval is the first case worldwide in which a pharmaceutical company has received prequalification from the WHO for a medicine used to treat an NTD, the company noted.

Eisai is a signatory to the London Declaration, which is the largest global public-private partnership to date and aims to eliminate ten NTDs by 2020. The lymphatic filariasis medicine DEC is in short supply worldwide, which poses a major obstacle in eliminating the disease. As part of Eisai’s commitment under the declaration, the company has agreed to produce 2.2 billion high-quality DEC tablets at the Vizag Plant and, from 2013, to work with the WHO to supply the tablets at price zero to endemic countries over a seven-year period.