Lilly partners with Max Foundation to expand Verzenio access for breast cancer patients

 KENYA—Eli Lilly and Company, an American pharmaceutical company, has announced that it will provide free access to Verzenio (abemaciclib) for the treatment of HR-positive, HER2-negative ABC patients in Kenya.

This donation to the Max Foundation (Max) aims to increase access to therapy for people with advanced breast cancer.

Max is a major global charity organization dedicated to promoting health equity by providing medication, technology, and supportive services to patients around the world.

Lilly’s contribution is part of Lilly 30×30, an initiative that aims to enhance access and reduce barriers to quality healthcare for 30 million individuals living in low-resource settings each year by 2030.

Furthermore, Partners in the Humanitarian PACT for ABC have pledged to invest resources and/or their unique knowledge and capabilities to support the expansion of Max Access Solutions in order to give access to therapy for HR+/HER2-advanced breast cancer patients.

Max Access Solutions, Max’s humanitarian treatment access strategy, intends to harness the power of partnerships and prioritize individual patients’ needs to enhance outcomes for cancer and other critical illnesses in low-resource healthcare settings through this collaboration.

Max Access Solutions presently treats over 34,000 patients in 77 low-resource nations.

The partnership with Lilly to give Verzenio in Kenya now increases efforts to treat HR+ HER2 negative ABC across ten low- and middle-income nations.

Mozambique became the first country to obtain treatment access late last year, owing to a donation of medication from Novartis AG.

Treatment began in Nepal in December, with initiatives underway to open access in the Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Seychelles in the coming months.

Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO of The Max Foundation, commended Lilly for their shared commitment and joining the Humanitarian PACT as a partner, noting that this will accelerate health equity and allow Max to expand its efforts to address one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women globally.

On his part, Ilya Yuffa, President of Lilly International, stated that through similar collaborations, Lilly hopes to have a positive impact on patients, communities, and the environment, particularly in low- and middle-income nations.

He went on to say that this Verzenio donation would benefit advanced breast cancer patients in Kenya, reflecting Lilly’s ongoing efforts to increase access to healthcare for people living in low-resource situations.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with roughly 2.2 million cases happening each year worldwide and approximately 700,000 fatalities occurring yearly.

Furthermore, an estimated 45% of new cases are detected each year, and more than 55% of breast cancer-related fatalities occur in low and middle-income nations.

It is also predicted that up to 80% of patients in developing nations are diagnosed at a metastatic or incurable stage..

Because routine pathology, diagnostic examinations, and standard treatments are frequently unavailable in low-resource countries, managing breast cancer presents particular hurdles.

As a result, breast cancer is typically discovered in its late stages, and patients may get insufficient treatment, including supportive and palliative care, due to limited resources.

Initiatives to address these challenges are being implemented through the Humanitarian PACT, which include enlisting additional partners, expanding in-country teams, expanding the physician network to treat patients, and introducing programs to strengthen health systems, such as diagnostics and supportive care.