Ghana signs five-year contract for use of Novartis drug in the treatment of sickle cell disease

Health News Thursday, March 28, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-03-28

Ghana will use hydroxyurea, a generic drug developed by Novartis, for the treatment of sickle cell disease as a result of a five-year agreement signed in January this year.

According to the Ghana Health Service, treatment will soon be deployed in health facilities across the country to reduce the current costs of treating the genetic disease.

Ghana and Novartis, an international pharmaceutical company, signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2019 to improve the diagnosis and treatment of people with the disease.

Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, chief executive of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), said Wednesday at a press conference in Accra that the public-private partnership agreement would significantly reduce the cost of treatment of the disease that kills many infants in Ghana.

MCS is an inherited disease that causes significant damage to red blood cells, blood vessels and organs.

It affects the shape of red blood cells and can make blood cells and Bessel sticker more common.

It is estimated that about 15,000 births in Ghana are affected each year by the SCD.

The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana's largest referral hospital, diagnoses and treats approximately 1,000 patients with hydroxyurea each year.

The first batch of 5,600 doses of hydroxyurea was introduced in the country and would be distributed to all public health facilities in the country for sale to patients at a discounted price.

Hydroxyurea is the main treatment of sickle cell patients with sickle cell disease in developed countries.

During the five years of the agreement, the treatment of hydroxyurea by SCD should improve and prolong the life of people with the disease through a comprehensive approach to screening, diagnosis , treatment and management of the disease, as well as training and training. like raising clinical research and scientific capabilities.

Dr. Nsiah-Asare said stakeholders plan to collaborate on field trials and guidelines for managing sickle cell disease through the establishment of centers of excellence for scientific research and development in the 16 regional capitals.

This, he said, would be followed by the expansion of newborn screening for MSC, which is currently being carried out in some districts of Kumasi only.

"The partners focused on four main areas. treatment of the disease, which seeks to make hydroxyurea available and accessible in Ghana, diagnosis, with the aim of providing at least one neonatal screening site in each region, research and advocacy, "he said.

According to Dr. Nsiah-Asare, Ghana's health service will, as part of the memorandum, prioritize sickle cell disease as an unmet medical need in Ghana's health program and facilitate coordination between different government entities .

He said the partners were working together on the inclusion of the hydroxyurea drug and the corresponding laboratory tests in the national health insurance scheme.

Patrice Natchaba, Head of Global Health and Corporate Responsibility at Novartis, explained that the partnership was aimed at ensuring that no children or families with sickle cell disease were left behind.

He encouraged families to have their children tested for the sickle cell gene because early diagnosis was the surest way to reduce the burden of sickness.

Hydroxyurea, according to him, improves the health of red blood cells when it is taken daily.

Natchaba said Nortavis is fully committed to this partnership and will bring an additional 40,000 doses of the drug by September this year.