TOKYO, January 18, 2017 -- Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 4519) announced today that it will join Access Accelerated, a global initiative launched by twenty-two leading biopharmaceutical companies at the World Economic Forum. Access Accelerated aims to advance access to non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and care in low and lower-middle income countries (LICs and LMICs).

NCDs have reached a point of crisis, particularly in lower and middle income countries, where nearly 80 percent of NCD-related deaths occur. The goal of Access Accelerated, in partnership with the World Bank Group and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), is to work towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030.

“Chugai is focused on creating and providing innovative drugs for the benefit of the medical community and human health around the world. Accelerating access to these drugs in low-and lower-middle income countries is a very important goal for our company, as this contributes to sustaining and improving the health of their working populations,” said Osamu Nagayama, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chugai. “Since 2014 Chugai has been working towards that end under the framework of the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund. With the involvement in Access Accelerated, we will further extend our reach in developing countries to improve their healthcare.”

Building on long-standing individual company investments in global health, Access Accelerated will address a variety of access barriers to NCD prevention, treatment and care. Efforts will be evaluated with the support of independent experts at Boston University to establish a framework for progress, measure effectiveness and deliver ongoing reporting.

With the World Bank Group the initiative will identify solutions to address financing, regulatory and service delivery barriers at country level. Additionally, the World Bank Group will conduct pilots in primary care to improve NCD outcomes in several countries.

For more information, please visit accessaccelerated.org.

About Access Accelerated
Access Accelerated is a first-of-its-kind, multi-stakeholder collaboration focused on improving NCD care. Involving more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies, the initiative works with partners such as World Bank Group and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to help overcome a variety of access barriers to NCD medicines in low-income and lower-middle income countries. Access Accelerated will support multi-stakeholder dialogue and begin on-the-ground work to improve NCD prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Contributing companies include: Almirall, Astellas, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Chugai, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Eli Lilly and Company, EFPIA, GlaxoSmithKline, The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), Johnson & Johnson, JPMA, Menarini, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, PhRMA, Roche, Sanofi, Shionogi, Sumitomo Dainippon, Takeda and UCB. IFPMA will act as the Secretariat for Access Accelerated.

About Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
NCDs, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and mental health disorders are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. This places a double burden on communities and economies around the world already combating infectious diseases.

Reference
Global Press Release issued on January 18 in Davos, Switzerland
https://www.chugai-pharm.co.jp/security/170118eGlobalAAPressRelease.pdf