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BBC World Film Featuring OneWorld Health Voted Year’s Best Documentary

Kill or Cure? Kala Azar 2 Voted Best Documentary of the Year by BBC World Viewers

SAN FRANCISCO, USA AND PATNA, BIHAR, INDIA - January 4, 2008

The Institute for OneWorld Health (iOWH), the US-based non-profit pharmaceutical company that develops drugs for people with infectious diseases in the developing world, today announced that Kill or Cure? Kala Azar 2, the BBC World’s documentary featuring OneWorld Health, has been voted best documentary of the year by BBC World viewers.

Kill or Cure? Kala Azar 2 will re-air on BBC World on January 5, 6 and 7. The documentary focuses on medicine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala azar, and chronicles the story behind Paromomycin IM injection, OneWorld Health’s new treatment for VL.

“We are delighted that this compelling documentary is educating a global audience about efforts to combat a deadly disease and that viewers are responding,” said James H. Hickman, Vice President, Communications and Fund Development. “Raising awareness about OneWorld Health’s development of a safe, effective, and affordable drug – Paromomycin IM injection – to treat poor people afflicted by VL is a critical part of sparking further support for this important public health initiative.”

If left untreated, VL is almost always fatal; it is the world’s second most deadly parasitic disease following malaria. VL primarily afflicts rural, resource-poor populations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sudan and Brazil. With approximately 500,000 new cases of VL occurring annually affordable therapies are desperately needed.

The documentary revisits the story of 13-year-old Dilip, whom BBC World interviewed three years ago in his home state of Bihar in India. At that time, Dilip had been diagnosed with VL. Dilip’s family agreed to try a new medicine to combat the disease -- Paromomycin IM Injection, with which the Institute for OneWorld Health was then conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial. On the basis of this clinical trial, Paromomycin IM Injection was approved for treatment of VL by the Drug Controller General in India. The drug was subsequently added to the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List, and the results of the Phase 3 clinical study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2007. OneWorld Health recently initiated a large Phase 4 pharmacovigilance and access program for Paromomycin IM Injection for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in India. Returning in 2007, BBC World finds a thriving teenage Dilip, a healthy and avid cricket player. Through interviews with leading VL researchers, OneWorld Health partners, and the people who suffer from disease, the BBC World documentary chronicles the successful development of a new treatment, providing a novel and affordable tool in the fight against VL in India.

Kill or Cure? Kala Azar 2 will be broadcast on BBC World on Saturday, January 5 at 1230 GMT, Sunday, January 6 at 1030 and 1730 GMT, and Monday, January 7 at 0230 GMT. Check the local BBC World listings to confirm air times. You can also view the full documentary on OneWorld Health’s website.

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About Kill or Cure

The Kill or Cure? series covers the hunt for effective and affordable treatments for people earning less than a few dollars a day. It is one of the most watched shows on BBC World. Winner of awards at The Third Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival and at BBC World’s “Best Documentary of the Year” ceremony, Kill or Cure? reaches an audience of 270 million homes, and each documentary goes out five to seven times in its week of transmission. Many of the programs are also broadcast on other cable and satellite television networks around the world. Kill or Cure? has recently covered avian flu, dengue, and the possibility of a TB vaccine for other segments of this series.

About the Institute for OneWorld Health

The Institute for OneWorld Health, the first US nonprofit pharmaceutical company, develops safe, effective and affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases in the developing world. The Institute for OneWorld Health, headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) US corporation (http://www.oneworldhealth.org) ). Media resources are available at http://www.oneworldhealth.org/media/index.php/ .

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