Paromomycin added to national essential medicines list by government of Nepal

OneWorld Health (OWH) announced that its antibiotic paromomycin (PMIM) a life-saving medicine for the treatment of Kala-Azar (black fever), has been approved for the Essential Drug List of Nepal. This milestone signifies a major vote of confidence from the Nepali government and will move PMIM towards being adopted into the public healthcare system.

Kala-Azar is a life-threatening parasitic disease also known as visceral leishmaniasis (VL). It is nearly 100 percent fatal without treatment, and affects up to 500,000 people annually, mostly in poor countries in South Asia, East Africa and South America. OWH resurrected PMIM, a drug abandoned by for-profit pharmaceutical companies, and developed it into a safe, effective and low-cost treatment for Kala-Azar.

“Kala-Azar was an international tragedy, with patients in impoverished countries needlessly dying of this disease because of lack of an affordable drug. With paromomycin, which is not only safe and effective but affordable to even the poorest patients, OWH has already saved thousands of lives worldwide,” said Richard Chin, MD and CEO of OWH.

Headquartered in South San Francisco, OneWorld Health is a non-profit that discovers, develops and delivers safe, effective and affordable new medicines for impoverished patients, especially children, suffering from neglected diseases in the developing world. More information can be found at www.oneworldhealth.org.