Bayer donates moxifloxacin to the WHO for use in China
In support of the WHO/Stop TB Partnership initiative to tackle multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
Bayer HealthCare will donate 620,000 tablets of its antibiotic moxifloxacin to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for use in its Stop TB Partnership to tackle multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
The WHO will provide the antibiotics to China's national tuberculosis programme.
‘We have decided to make moxifloxacin available to provide quick support to those patients in need,’ said Jörg Reinhardt, chairman of Bayer Healthcare’s Board of Management.
‘We were happy to follow the request from WHO because we believe that this is the right step to address an increasing medical need in patients affected with this serious disease and for whom there are only very limited oral treatment options available.’
Moxifloxacin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic indicated for the treatment of several acute bacterial infections. It is not specifically approved for the treatment of tuberculosis or MDR-TB, but the WHO has included it in its treatment guidelines as part of a second-line regimen in patients with MDR-TB.
Bayer is currently conducting trials of the antibiotic in tuberculosis and intends to apply for the approval of moxifloxacin for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis as soon as these trials have been completed.
Through the cooperation with the WHO/Stop TB Partnership moxifloxacin will be administered in China in a highly controlled manner.
Bayer HealthCare says the drug should only be used in MDR-TB treatment programmes authorised and monitored by the Green Light Committee, a joint initiative of the WHO/Stop TB Partnership in cooperation with China’s public health authorities.
