Medicine donation programmes supporting the global drive to end the burden of neglected tropical diseases.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are targeted for global control or elimination. Recognising that the populations most in need of medicines to target NTDs are those least able to support and sustain them financially, the pharmaceutical industry created mechanisms for donating medicines and expertise to affected countries through partnerships with the WHO, development agencies, non-governmental organisations and philanthropic donors. In the last 30 y, companies have established programmes to donate 17 different medicines to overcome the burden of NTDs. Billions of tablets, capsules, intravenous and oral solutions have been donated, along with the manufacturing, supply chains and research necessary to support these efforts. Industry engagement has stimulated other donors to support NTDs with funds and oversight so that the 'heath benefit' return on investment in these programmes is truly a 'best value in public health'. Many current donations are 'open-ended', promising support as long as necessary to achieve defined health targets. Extraordinary global health advances have been made in filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, intestinal parasites and others; and these advances are taking place in the context of strengthening health systems and meeting the global development goals espoused by the WHO. The pharmaceutical manufacturers, already strong collaborators in initiating or supporting these disease-targeted programmes, have committed to continuing their partnership roles in striving to meet the targets of the WHO's new NTD roadmap to 2030.

The role of medicine donations in the global programme for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis.

World Health Assembly Resolution 50.29, adopted in 1997, committed the World Health Organization (WHO) and its member states to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem. In 2000, to support this ambitious goal and the health ministries in the >70 LF-endemic countries, the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) was created. The resulting WHO elimination strategy consists of two main components: to stop the spread of infection by interrupting transmission and to alleviate the suffering of affected populations (by controlling morbidity). The GPELF has brought together a broad global partnership of public and private actors, including three pharmaceutical companies with headquarters in three different continents. The medicine donations programmes from GlaxoSmithKline, MSD (trade name of Merck & Co., Kenilworth, NJ, USA) and Eisai have enabled significant achievements during the first 20 y of the GPELF and are positioned to provide essential contributions to the GPELF's goals for the next decade. As we celebrate the progress towards LF elimination during the GPELF's first 20 y, this article reflects on the factors that led to the creation of the three donation programmes, the contributions these programmes have made and some lessons learned along the way. We close by emphasizing our continued commitments to LF elimination and perspectives on the next decade.

Prediction of relaxin-3-induced downstream pathway resulting in anxiolytic-like behaviors in rats based on a microarray and peptidome analysis.

The effect of the intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of relaxin-3 (RLX3) was evaluated using anxiety-related behavioral tests in rats. RLX3-injected animals showed normal locomotion activity in a habituated environment and declined anxiety cognition in the elevated plus maze test and the shock probe-burying test. The measurement of spontaneous locomotor activity in a novel environment also suggested that RLX3 reduced the stress response. To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of the downstream signaling pathways underlying RLX3 activity and its relation to anxiolytic and hyperphagic behavior phenotypes, RLX3-i.c.v.-injected rat hypothalamic responses were examined using a microarray analysis. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software listed the phenotype-relating genes and they showed characteristic expression patterns in the rat hypothalamus. When peptidome data sets for the same listed genes was analyzed using a semi-quantitative approach, the expressions of two neuropeptides were found to have increased. One of these neuropeptides, oxytocin (Oxt), exhibited increased expression in both the microarray and the peptidomic analysis, and a Western blot analysis validated the mass spectrometry results. A cross-omics data analysis is useful for predicting downstream signaling pathways, and the anxiolytic-like behavior of RLX3 may be mediated by an oxytocin signaling pathway in rats. These results suggest that RLX3 acts as an anxiolytic peptide and that the downstream pathways mediated by its receptors may be potential candidates for the treatment of anxieties in the future.

Chronic intracerebroventricular administration of relaxin-3 increases body weight in rats.

Bolus-administered intracerebroventricular (ICV) relaxin-3 has been reported to increase feeding. In this study, to examine the role of relaxin-3 signaling in energy homeostasis, we studied the effects of chronically administered ICV relaxin-3 on body weight gain and locomotor activity in rats. Two groups of animals received vehicle or relaxin-3 at 600 pmol/head/day, delivered with Alzet osmotic minipumps. In animals receiving relaxin-3, food consumption and weight gain were statistically significantly higher than those in the vehicle group during the 14-day infusion. During the light phase on days 2 and 7 and the dark phase on days 3 and 8, there was no difference in locomotor activity between the two groups. Plasma concentrations of leptin and insulin in rats chronically injected with relaxin-3 were significantly higher than in the vehicle-injected controls. These results indicate that relaxin-3 up-regulates food intake, leading to an increase of body weight and that relaxin-3 antagonists might be candidate antiobesity agents.