Tokyo, Japan, January 30, 2012 -- Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President & CEO: Haruo Naito, "Eisai"), as one of the thirteen major research and development-based pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. and U.K. governments, the World Bank and governments from neglected tropical disease (NTD)-endemic countries, gave its support on January 30 (local London time) to the London Declaration, a coordinated effort to eliminate 10 NTDs by the end of this decade.

Eisai is committed to taking proactive steps to address issues related to access to medicines, including NTDs, in accordance with established policy as it expands its business in both emerging and developing nations in this era of great globalization. The company considers its contributions to the economic development and expansion of the middle-income class through the enhancement of health and welfare in these countries as a form of long-term investment for future growth. Eisai is the only Japanese company to join this coordinated program. In support of the London Declaration and the WHO's program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, Eisai has signed an agreement with the WHO to extend its support until 2020, during which Eisai will supply free of charge 2.2 billion tablets of the medicine DEC (diethylcarbamazine) until 2020, in line with the WHO elimination goals.

Lymphatic filariasis is controlled with three antiparasitic agents and the global shortage of DEC, one of the antiparastic agents, had been a limiting factor in the elimination of this debilitating disease. Eisai will start manufacturing DEC in accordance with the high quality standards of WHO at its plant in Vizag, India, and provide it to people in need as a price "zero" Eisai product, while working on the collection and provision of relevant safety information to ensure the appropriate use of the medicine. Never before has a pharmaceutical company agreed to produce and supply a medicine, including completing regulatory registration from scratch, solely for the purposes of an NTD elimination program. Eisai will begin supplying DEC from 2013, and plans to deliver this medicine to some 250 million people in the developing world by 2020.

In line with its commitment to support the WHO's lymphatic filariasis elimination program, Eisai has also committed to provide 120 million DEC tablets to the WHO free of charge in collaboration with Sanofi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure a stable of supply of DEC until 2013 when the Eisai-produced DEC becomes available. This is the first partnership in which two pharmaceutical companies, with the Gates Foundation, have come together to supply a single drug for an NTD.

As a human health care (hhc) company, Eisai is committed to taking proactive measures to help solve global health issues such as neglected tropical diseases and access to medicines as it seeks to make contributions to increasing the benefits provided to patients and their families worldwide.