ºÚÁÏÍø

ºÚÁÏÍø., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, “ºÚÁÏÍø”) announced today that ºÚÁÏÍø has been ranked 11th among the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies in the Access to Medicine Index (ATM Index) 2014, representing a significant increase of four places from its previous ranking in 2012.

This Index is compiled by the Access to Medicine Foundation (the Foundation), an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving access to medicine for patients in need. Published by the Foundation every two years since 2008, the ATM Index independently evaluates companies' efforts to improve access to medicine in developing countries to rank the world's top 20 leading pharmaceutical companies on access to medicine issues.

ºÚÁÏÍø performed above the Index average in the following five technical areas set by the Foundation: general access to medicine management; public policy and market influence; pricing, manufacturing, and distribution; patents and licensing; as well as product donations and philanthropic activities. In the research and development area, the Foundation specifically recognized ºÚÁÏÍø's strong contribution to the research and development for a range of neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis through product development partnerships.

In the ATM Index 2014 report, ºÚÁÏÍø's commitment to eliminating lymphatic filariasis, a neglected tropical disease, by providing 2.2 billion diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) tablets to endemic countries in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) for seven years period starting from 2013, was also highly commended. In addition, the Foundation praised the implementation of equitable pricing strategies which includes both inter- and intra-country pricing tiers, and highlighted the co-founding of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) with other Japanese pharmaceutical companies, the Japanese government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as a best practice.

ºÚÁÏÍø is establishing proactive partnerships with governments, international organizations and other private sector companies to improve access to medicines worldwide under its human health care (hhc) philosophy. The ºÚÁÏÍø Group is committed to developing and implementing long-term sustainable strategies that promote drug affordability, availability and adoption for greater access to medicine worldwide.

Please click the following link for details of the ATM Index 2014 results:

The Access to Medicine Foundation (the Foundation) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the challenges of access to medicine worldwide. Based in the Netherlands, the Foundation publishes the Access to Medicine Index.

The goal of the Access to Medicine Index (ATM Index) is to supply pharmaceutical companies, investors, governments, academics, non-governmental organizations and the general public with independent, impartial and reliable information on individual pharmaceutical companies' efforts to improve global access to medicine. The ATM Index survey has been conducted every two years since 2008.
The ATM Index survey measures companies using seven technical areas: general access to medicine management; public policy and market influence; research and development; pricing, manufacturing, and distribution; patents and licensing; capability advancement in product development and distribution; product donations and philanthropic activities. In each technical area an assessment is made against each of four strategic drivers: commitments, transparency, performance and innovation. An overall average score is calculated for each company surveyed, and these scores are used to rank the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies on access to medicine issues.

In line with its human health care (hhc) mission, ºÚÁÏÍø is committed to improving global access to medicines over the medium-to-long term through partnership strategies that involve working with governments, international organizations, private entities and non-profit organizations (NPOs). Becoming a signatory to the London Declaration, ºÚÁÏÍø agreed to support the World Health Organization's program to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, and has committed to supplying diethylcarbamazine (DEC) for the elimination of the disease to some 250 million people living in at-risk communities in disease endemic countries free of charge over a seven-year period from 2013 to 2020. As of November 2014, shipments have already commenced to 16 countries¹ around the world.
ºÚÁÏÍø is moving ahead with new drug development projects targeting malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, based on partnerships with international non-profit organizations such as the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Sabin Vaccine Institute. In addition, it is also collaborating with FundaÇão Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil's national research agency, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and the Broad Institute to develop novel medicines for NTDs and tuberculosis. Furthermore, ºÚÁÏÍø co-established the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), Japan's first public–private partnership to advance development of new health technologies for the developing world, and is a signatory to the Tuberculosis Drug Accelerator (TBDA) partnership.
For further information on ºÚÁÏÍø's Access to Medicines initiatives, please visit the Access to Medicines page on the ºÚÁÏÍø global website: http://www.eisai.com/company/atm/index.html