GSK and Save the Children launch Africa partnership

UK pharmaceuticals manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to partner the Save the Children charity to develop medicines to tackle child mortality in Africa.

Among the key initiatives are the reformulation of the antiseptic chlorhexidine, used in GSK’s Corsodyl mouthwash, into a gel that can be applied to the umbilical cords of babies to stop infection and the roll-out of a child-friendly antibiotic in a powder form to treat pneumonia.

The new medicines will be sold at cost price.

For the first time, Save the Children will help GSK to research and develop medicines for children, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on life-saving interventions for under-5s, and to identify ways to ensure the widest possible access in the developing world.

The GSK-Save the Children partnership will also focus on widening vaccination coverage to the hardest-to-reach communities through greater use of mobile phone technology.

A partnership of this scale gives us an opportunity to do something amazing

Flagship programmes will run initially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. These will be followed by other initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America.

GSK said the partnership could save the lives of a million children.

Sir Andrew Witty, Chief Executive of GSK, said: ‘A partnership of this scale gives us an opportunity to do something amazing. We are motivated by developing innovative life-saving medicines and getting them to the people who need them. By joining forces with Save the Children, we can amplify these efforts to create a momentum for change and stop children dying from preventable diseases.’

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children, added: ‘This ground breaking partnership involves both organisations working in genuinely new ways to save the lives of a million children. We believe we can make huge gains if we harness the power of GSK’s innovation, research and global reach.’