[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THANKS TO GLAXOSMITHKLINE ON ITS COMMITMENT TO THE LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS 
                          ELIMINATION PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CASS BALLENGER

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 26, 2002

  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, Last month, the pharmaceutical company 
GlaxoSmithKIine produced the one-millionth donated tablet of 
albendazole, a drug that is being used to eliminate a devastating 
tropical disease called lymphatic filariasis (LF). I would like to 
congratulate GlaxoSmithKIine (GSK) on this outstanding accomplishment, 
and thank the company for its commitment to the World Health 
Organization's (WHO) Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program.
  GlaxoSmithKIine has its U.S. headquarters in my state, where it 
employs close to 6,000 North Carolinians in the search for disease 
treatments and cures that improve the quality of human life by enabling 
people to do more, feel better and live longer. In addition to 
developing leading treatments for such diseases as diabetes, 
depression, asthma and HIV/AIDS, GSK produces an anti-parasitic drug 
called albendazole that is used to prevent a tropical disease known as 
lymphatic filiarias, or LF.
  LF is a parasitic disease caused by thread-like worms that live in 
the human lymphatic system after being transmitted by a mosquito bite. 
LF is one of the leading causes of permanent and long-term disability 
in the world. The WHO estimates there are a billion people at risk in 
about 80 countries, mostly in India, Africa, South Asia, the Western 
Pacific and Central and South America. Over 120 million people have 
already been affected by LF, and over 40 million of these are seriously 
incapacitated and disfigured by the disease. In an infected person, the 
adult worms damage the lymphatic system, causing fluid to collect and 
cause swelling in the arms, legs, breasts and genitals. Such infections 
cause a grotesque hardening and thickening of the skin, known as 
elephantiasis.
  LF has been a scourge of civilization for thousands of years, being 
first depicted on the pharaonic murals of Egypt and in the ancient 
medical texts of China, India, Japan and Persia. Elephantiasis was 
first associated with parasitic filarial worms and their mosquito 
vectors in the late 19th century by French, English and Australian 
physicians working with patients from Cuba, Brazil, China and India.
  The WHO has determined that LF can be eliminated through an intense 
prevention program that will break the chain of infection through the 
use of anti-parasitic drugs. When these efforts succeed, LF will be 
only the second disease in history, after smallpox, to have been 
eradicated through human intervention.
  In December 1997, GlaxoSmithKIine formed a collaboration with the WHO 
to spearhead efforts to eliminate LF. GSK would donate albendazole, one 
of three essential anti parasitic drugs, for as long as necessary until 
the disease was eliminated--best estimates put the scale of this 
commitment at around five to six billion treatments. Since then, the 
program has evolved into a major public-private partnership known as 
the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.
  GSK has become an active and involved partner in eliminating LF along 
with the WHO, organizations in the private and public sectors, and 
academia. By the end of the program to eliminate LF, GSK will have 
donated approximately five to six billion albendazole treatments for 
people in 80 countries. In addition to providing albendazole, GSK is 
supporting the Global Alliance for the Elimination of LF through help 
with coalition building, planning, training and communication 
initiatives.
  GSK's production of the millionth dose of albendazole for the LF 
Elimination Program is an outstanding milestone achievement on the road 
to what will become the single largest pharmaceutical donation in 
history. I am pleased to represent the employees of GlaxoSmithKIine, 
and proud to share the news of their historic accomplishment with this 
chamber.

                          ____________________