Chao Center donates Seromycin to help fight MDR-TB

Seromycin, a broad spectrum antibiotic originally developed by US drug major Eli Lilly, is indicated in the treatment of active pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis when treatment with the primary medications has proves inadequate.

The Chao Centre, a contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) that specialises in the making small quantities of drugs that cannot otherwise be produced economically, is the sole North American manufacturer of Seromycin under a 2007 contract with Lilly.

Joseph Hornett, COO of the Purdue Research Foundation that runs the centre, explained that: “It is part of our mission and part of our partnership with Lilly to be involved in humanitarian efforts such as the Global Health Committee​.”

"This also is an opportunity for the Chao Center and its pharmaceutical interns to be directly involved with a program that will assist in global health care."​

MDR-TB​

MDR-TB is a growing problem worldwide, infecting around 450,000 people each year according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Anne Goldfield, co founder of the Global Health Committee reiterated the scale of the problem, explaining that: "There is a great need for medications around the world. Right now there are about 6,000 people a year with multidrug-resistant TB in Ethiopia and many more worldwide who have no access to drugs​."

"Through a donation from Eli Lilly and Company in 2008, we received MDR-TB medications that we are distributing in Ethiopia in partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, and with the donation from the Chao Center we will be able to expand our efforts to reach many more patients in Ethiopia and other countries​.”