Biogen Begins Shipping Hemophilia Drug to Developing World
Biogen and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi),) have begun shipments of a hemophilia therapy as part of a humanitarian aid pledge to help people with hemophilia in developing countries. The donation will provide up to 500 million units of hemophilia therapy over five years to the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and represents a significant contribution to the expansion of its Humanitarian Aid Program, a 20-year old initiative dedicated to providing treatment and care for people with hemophilia in the developing world. This initiative is the first phase of Biogen and Sobi's ten-year commitment to produce 1 billion international units (IUs) of hemophilia therapy for humanitarian use.
The WFH donation program is designed to create a sustainable model for humanitarian aid that has the potential to improve hemophilia care in regions of the world where, due to limited access to diagnosis and treatment, people with severe hemophilia often do not survive to adulthood. This donation is intended to help enable a predictable and sustainable supply of therapy to countries in need, and is the first time treatment clinics will receive product manufactured specifically for humanitarian use. The first recipient countries of the donation include Senegal, Kenya, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, El Salvador, Indonesia, Ghana, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria.