Month: July 2023

Tuberculosis (TB) is the second deadliest infectious disease, causing 1.5 million deaths globally every year. More than 80%1 of cases and deaths due to TB occur in lower- and middle-income countries. People who are immunocompromised are especially at risk of contracting the bacteria that causes TB, and people living with HIV are 16 times more likely to develop active TB.1 Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat, with only about one in three people with drug-resistant TB able to access treatment.

We are uniquely engaged in partnerships to address TB, including through our efforts to bring new treatments addressing drug-resistant TB more equitably to patients around the world. Viatris has launched pretomanid, specifically approved for adults with MDR-TB. It’s only the third new anti-TB drug approved in the past half-century.

In 2022, we partnered with MedAccess and TB Alliance to reduce the price of pretomanid, by 34%.2 Pretomanid is part of two new treatment regimens with high efficacy and shorter treatment durations recently recommended by the WHO as the preferred regimens for most people with drug-resistant TB. Viatris has been working with health authorities and HCPs to scale access to the product. In 2022, we supplied 3,000 treatments of pretomanid, completed 21 registrations, and are awaiting approval in 13 additional countries.

Eight countries, including India, together account for more than two thirds of the global total of TB cases. In India, where approximately 45,000 people are being treated for MDRTB, we supplied access to delamanid, a drug used to treat MDR-TB, to approximately 10,000 patients in 2022 in support of the government’s mission to Make India TB Free by 2025. We also began planning a new community-based project to help control TB in the rural and tribal areas of the Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, which lacks reliable health services, and sponsored the India Fights TB portal, which will provide support for TB patients, their families and caregivers in four states with high TB burden. We have also partnered with India’s planning commission, NITI Aayog, under the guidance of Central TB Board, to increase awareness, enhance screening and provide access to quality healthcare in the model district of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Further, Viatris has facilitated screening of more than 1 million people and helped 700 patients access the public health TB program.

While global TB burden is concentrated in certain countries, TB occurs in every part of the world. We operate a namedpatient access program in Europe, enabling pretomanid to reach patients in 12 European countries in 2022. In addition, we helped secure public reimbursement for the treatment in Belgium, Italy and Poland.

In 2022, we also received reimbursement approval for pretomanid in South Korea from the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) authority, Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA), marking the first new Viatris drug to get approved and reimbursed in the country. Starting in 2023, extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) patients in South Korea can be treated with pretomanid for no charge. We signed on with the Korea National TB Association (KNTA) to become a member of the STOP-TB Partnership KOREA program, which aims to eradicate TB in the country.

Stemming the Tide of Hepatitis B and C

We also work to stem the tide of hepatitis. About 354 million people worldwide are living with hepatitis types B and C and treatments and prevention often remain out of reach in low- and lower-middle-income countries.3 In 2022, we received approval in the Philippines for tenofovir alafenamide, indicated for hepatitis B, which affects about 17%, or 7 million Filipinos.3 To increase disease awareness, we plan to offer patient screenings to colleagues, are partnering with the Hepatitis Society of the Philippines’ Viral Hep Workshop among physicians and are actively working with the government to help ensure access when the product launches in 2023.

Thailand has a high incidence of hepatitis B and C, which increases the risk of liver cancer, one of the country’s leading causes of death. Many people don’t know that they have hepatitis, so our team partners with the Liver Foundation of Thailand, the Thailand Department of Disease Control, and the Thailand Hepatitis Alliance on the Hepatitis Screening Camp, who help identify those infected and enable access to treatments. In the past five years, the project has identified and provided treatment courses for more than 30,000 people living with hepatitis in Thailand.

View the full 2022 Sustainability Report here.

1WHO Tuberculosis Fact Sheet 
2MedAccess press release 
3WHO Hepatitis Facts

The truth about kids is simple: when nurtured and given opportunity, they thrive.

It’s something the founders of the group that would one day become Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) knew when they started out in 1860. They saw groups of kids roaming the streets, often getting themselves into trouble, and organized clubs that would give them better alternatives. They focused on capturing these children’s interest, improving their behavior and helping them raise their expectations of themselves.

Today, BGCA and its sister organization, BGC of Canada, have more than 4,500 clubs between them and serve millions of children through local service locations and proactive community outreach. Their goal? Provide safe places in which young people can reach their full potential.

In their words, they do what it takes. BGCA and BGC of Canada take a broad variety of approaches to helping kids succeed. In addition to encouragement and emotional support, these Clubs provide trained staff for effective mentoring programs, help with school and subject tutoring, and engage students with innovative programing and other opportunities for growth.

They also partner with other dedicated supporters of kids, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township, Illinois, hosted its second Go Innovate Together (goIT) event — TCS’ signature digital innovation and career-readiness program — with TCS this spring. A group of 18 students focused on designing prototype apps to solve issues in their community. Students worked extensively throughout the program to bring their ideas to life. Their final presentations demonstrated how much they learned about block-based coding, an extremely valuable skill, and collaboration, which is key to success in life and work.

When asked about what he valued most about what he learned through the goIT experience, student Adriano T. responded proudly, “I learned how to work in a group.”

When asked what had surprised him most about goIT and technology, he replied, “I was surprised because I didn’t know I could accomplish creating an app. I now realize I can do it!”

Fellow students were supportive throughout the event, encouraging each other during pitches for their app concepts and always willing to lend a hand to each other during the coding process.

As the Club continues to expand to more locations across Dundee Township, TCS and BGCA are exploring bringing goIT to those new buildings, too. The ever-growing enthusiasm for goIT forecasts a lot of future innovation – and even more participant pride.