Merck & Co., Inc.* is committed to donating Mectizan—as much as needed for as long as needed—to eliminate transmission of river blindness worldwide and to eliminate lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem in eligible countries. The Mectizan Donation Program is the longest-running disease-specific drug donation effort of its kind. Since the program’s inception, Merck has donated nearly five billion Mectizan treatments. Four countries in Latin America have eliminated river blindness, and LF has been eliminated in Malawi, Togo, and Yemen. The World Health Organization’s Neglected Tropical Disease Road Map 2021-2030 targets 12 countries for elimination of river blindness and 58 countries for elimination of LF by 2030.
For more information, see the Mectizan story on Merck’s corporate website.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treatments shipped by the Mectizan Donation Program (millions) | 298 | 344 | 268 | 197 | 359 | 385 | 292 |
| Total treatments approved (in millions) | 346 | 403 | 417 | 364 | 378 | 376 | 406 |
| Treatments approved for river blindness (in millions) | 111 | 131 | 139 | 105 | 213 | 178 | 274 |
| Treatments approved for LF in river blindness endemic countries (in millions) | 140 | 141 | 141 | 95 | 64 | 69 | 43 |
| Treatments approved for joint river blindness and LF programs (in millions) | 83 | 71 | 75 | 101 | 39 | 71 | 36 |
| Treatments approved for LF in countries not endemic for river blindness** | 12 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 62 | 58 | 53 |
| River blindness endemic countries where elimination of LF has been validated by the World Health Organization (Target: 30) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Countries where the elimination of river blindness has been verified by the World Health Organization (Target: 6) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Countries not endemic for river blindness where elimination of LF has been validated by the World Health Organization** | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
*Merck is known as MSD outside the USA and Canada.
**Following Merck’s commitment in 2017 to expand the donation of Mectizan to support the implementation of triple-therapy for the elimination of LF in certain settings, the Mectizan Donation Program expanded in 2018 to include donations for LF elimination in countries not endemic for river blindness.