NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Known for its successes in the fight against malaria through its famous artemisinin derivativeantimalarial Coartem in Kenya and East Africa, Novatis has now disclosed plans to focus on other health burdensome diseases , mostly the non-communicable ones.

Speaking in the tour of Nairobi, Novartis Pharma President for Asia/Pacific, Middle East and African countries Rainer Boehm told James Macharia, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health that already Novartis has established a global patient access program, working locally with Nairobi Hospital to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Within this program (GIPAP), Novartis fully subsidizes the costs of cancer medication for 450 Kenyan CML patients in need.