Through the
Mectizan Donation Program, Merck & Co., Inc. has donated
Mectizan (
ivermectin, MSD) for the treatment of
onchocerciasis worldwide since 1987.
Mectizan has also been donated for the elimination of
lymphatic filariasis (LF) since 1998 in African countries and in Yemen where
onchocerciasis and LF are co-endemic; for LF elimination programs,
Mectizan is co-administered with
albendazole, which is donated by GlaxoSmithKline. The
Mectizan Donation Program works in collaboration with the
Mectizan Expert Committee/
Albendazole Coordination, its scientific advisory committee. In 2005, a total of 62,201,310 treatments of
Mectizan for
onchocerciasis were approved for delivery via mass treatment programs in Africa, Latin America, and Yemen. Seventy-seven percent and 20% of these treatments for
onchocerciasis were for countries included in the African Programme for
Onchocerciasis Control (
APOC) and the former-
Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP), respectively. The remaining 3% of treatments approved were for the six
onchocerciasis endemic countries in Latin America, where mass treatment is carried out twice-yearly with the goal of completely eliminating morbidity and eventually transmission of
infection, and for Yemen. All 33
onchocerciasis endemic countries where mass treatment with
Mectizan is indicated have ongoing mass treatment programs. In 2005, 42,052,583 treatments of co-administered
albendazole and
Mectizan were approved for national Programs to Eliminate LF (PELFs) in Africa and Yemen. There are ongoing PELFs using
albendazole and
Mectizan in nine African countries and Yemen; these represent 35% of the total number of countries expected to require the co-administration of these two chemotherapeutic agents for LF elimination. In Africa, the expansion of existing PELFs and the initiation of new ones have been hampered by lack of resources, technical difficulties with the mapping of LF endemicity, and the co-endemicity of LF and
loiasis. Included in this review are recommendations recently put forward for the co-administration of
albendazole and
Mectizan in areas endemic for LF,
loiasis, and
onchocerciasis.