MDP - Mectizan Donation Program

The Merck MECTIZAN® Donation Program (MDP) provides MECTIZAN – free of charge and in perpetuity – for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis) in endemic countries worldwide. The MDP is a partnership between public, private and non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs). The MDP is Merck’s largest global donation initiative reaching more than 60 million people a year in Africa, Latin America and Yemen.

Established 25 years ago, the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) is the longest-running, disease-specific, drug donation program and public/private partnership of its kind.  The MDP secretariat is a partner of the Task Force for Global Health, and was established to provide medical, technical and administrative oversight of the donation of Mectizan. 

Thanks to the donations of Mectizan and albendazole, and to broad partnerships, the potential to eliminate both diseases as public health problems is not only feasible, but increasingly within reach. Our vision is a future free of the debilitating effects of both diseases.

The mandate of the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP) is to provide Mectizan for the elimination of onchocerciasis where feasible by 2025 and lymphatic filariasis in countries co-endemic with onchocerciasis by 2020.