Pharmaniaga, Pharco and DNDi sign agreement to provide affordable hepatitis C treatment in Malaysia

[Kuala Lumpur/Geneva – 13 November 2017]
Malaysian pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd (Pharmaniaga), Egyptian pharmaceutical company Pharco Pharmaceuticals (Pharco) and non-profit research and development organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have signed a collaboration agreement to manufacture and supply a new hepatitis C treatment regimen to be sold for US$300 in the public sector in Malaysia.

Phase II/III studies show high efficacy and safety of fexinidazole, the first oral treatment for sleeping sickness

[Geneva – 4 November 2017]
Results open possibility of paradigm shift in treatment of deadly disease
The first all-oral treatment for Trypanosoma brucei gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (g-HAT) has been proven to be effective and safe, according to the results of clinical trials led by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and its partners, published today in the Lancet.
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DNDi welcomes Malaysia’s move to secure access to more affordable treatments for hepatitis C

[Kuala Lumpur, Geneva – 20 September 2017]
Malaysia has issued a “government use” licence enabling access to more affordable versions of an expensive and patented medicine to treat hepatitis C. This landmark decision should help the more than 400,000 people living with hepatitis C in Malaysia access sofosbuvir, and could have important repercussions in the global effort to secure access to expensive treatments for this viral disease.
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More than EUR 56 million raised to fund initiative to fight antibiotic resistance

[Berlin – 4 September 2017]
Germany hosts pledging event for GARDP, a new initiative to develop new antibiotic treatments
Germany together with a number of countries and foundations today pledged EUR 56.5 million to help develop new treatments to fight against antibiotic resistance, during a fundraising event for the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), hosted in Berlin by the German Federal Ministry of Health and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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DNDi welcomes Dr Marie-Paule Kieny as new Chair of the Board of Directors with Prof. Marcel Tanner stepping down after ten successful years

[Geneva – 8 August 2017]
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) announced today the appointment of Dr Marie-Paule Kieny as the new Chair of the Board of Directors. Dr Kieny, a former World Health Organization (WHO) Assistant Director-General, brings more than four decades of experience in public health and innovation to DNDi’s work in developing new treatments for neglected patients. Until July 2017, Dr Kieny led WHO’s Health Systems and Innovation cluster. During her career at WHO, she also led its Innovation, Information, Evidence and Research cluster, directed the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research and led the organization’s activities on Ebola and Zika research, as well as the preparation of an R&D Blueprint to accelerate global preparedness for future pandemics. Before joining WHO in 2001, Dr Kieny was Director of Research at the Institute of Virology, Institut national de la Santé et de la Recherche médicale in Paris (INSERM) and Assistant Scientific Director of French biopharmaceutical company Transgene SA.

Entasis Therapeutics and the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) to develop a new treatment for drug-resistant gonorrhea

[Boston, Geneva – 6 July 2017]
First partnering deal for newly-created GARDP with Entasis includes access and stewardship strategy to tackle drug-resistant gonorrhea
Zoliflodacin, a novel first-in-class oral antibiotic and one of the only treatments in development to address the rapidly-growing threat of drug-resistant gonorrhea will enter pivotal trials, thanks to a new partnership between the not-for-profit Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and Entasis Therapeutics. The announcement comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) releases alarming new data today showing that of 77 countries surveyed across the world, more than 60% report resistance to the last-resort treatment for gonorrhea.
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Clinical trial for a better treatment for mycetoma starts in Sudan

[Khartoum, Sudan – 19 June 2017]
First ever double-blind study for disease so neglected that it only recently was added to WHO list of neglected tropical diseases
The first-ever double-blind, randomized clinical trial for an effective treatment for the severely neglected disease mycetoma has enrolled its first patient at the Mycetoma Research Centre (MRC) in Khartoum, Sudan.

Child-friendly formulation of WHO-recommended HIV treatment now approved by the CDSCO

New Delhi, India – 6 June 2017
On 25 May, an expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), the Indian drug regulatory authority, finally permitted the child-friendly and heat-stable pellet formulation of the HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) to be registered. This has opened up crucial supplies from Cipla to the Indian National AIDS Control Programme (NACO), which had up to now been struggling to source quality assured paediatric formulations of the drug.

New open source project engages universities in neglected diseases drug discovery

[London and New York –  May 3, 2017]
Indian, UK and US students to help discover desperately-needed drug leads for visceral leishmaniasis
The non-profit research and development organisation Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has launched a collaborative project with five universities in India, the UK, and the US to harness the capacity of university teaching laboratories and task students with discovering potential new drugs for patients living with neglected diseases.

Daiichi Sankyo announces collaborative research on drugs for neglected diseases

[Tokyo, Japan – March 30, 2017]
Daiichi Sankyo announces collaborative research on drugs for neglected diseases
Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, “Daiichi Sankyo”), announced that it has entered into a new joint research agreement with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (hereafter, “DNDi”) with regard to a new research program, the Hit-to-Lead Project, with the aim to develop drug treatments for two neglected tropical diseases, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.

Study confirms key therapeutic advance for children living with HIV and tuberculosis

[Seattle, USA – February 14, 2017]
Landmark study proves that “super-boosting” approach counters negative interaction between key HIV and TB drugs
The non-profit research and development organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has released results of a study in South Africa that will make it easier for healthcare workers to treat children living with HIV who are co-infected with tuberculosis.