Overview

DNDi in 2010


Background
Tropical diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, lymphatic Filiariasis, Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), dengue fever, and schistomiasis continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. These disabling and/or life threatening diseases represent an enduring unmet medical need and are collectively called “neglected diseases”. Of the 1,556 new drugs approved between 1975 and 2004, only 21 (1.3%) were specifically developed for tropical diseases and tuberculosis, even though these diseases account for 11.4% of the global disease burden.

Although the R&D landscape has significantly changed for neglected diseases since 2000, there is an urgent need for new, field-adapted drugs to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL), human African trypanosomiasis (HAT or sleeping sickness), and Chagas disease.

A potentially fatal disease if left untreated, VL is present in 62 countries, with 200 million people at risk and 500,000 new cases each year. Therapeutic options for VL are limited as there are significant drawbacks, including method of administration, toxicity, and cost. HAT, a fatal disease if not treated, threatens more than 50 million people in 36 countries and has limited treatment options. For Chagas disease, with ~8 million people infected and 100 million at risk in 21 countries across Central and South America, drugs are needed to treat both acute and chronic disease, as are safer and more effective drugs adapted to patient needs.



DNDi in Brief
Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development (R&D) organisation that is developing new treatments for malaria, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis, HAT), and Chagas disease. The initiative’s primary objective is to deliver six to eight new treatments by 2014 for these diseases and to establish a strong R&D portfolio. In doing so, DNDi is also working to use and strengthen existing capacities in disease-endemic countries, and raise awareness and advocate for the need to develop new treatments for the most neglected diseases.

DNDi has followed this mandate since it was established in 2003 by Institut Pasteur and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) along with four publicly-funded research organisations in neglected disease-endemic countries - the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Farmanguinhos in Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and the Ministry of Health in Malaysia. The UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) acts as permanent observer.

Working in partnership with industry and academia, DNDi has built the largest ever R&D portfolio for the kinetoplastid diseases and currently has nine clinical/post-registration and four preclinical projects underway. DNDi successfully delivered two antimalarial products in 2007 and 2008 respectively, as well as a new combination therapy against sleeping sickness in 2009, NECT.

DNDi is based in Geneva with a team of 30 permanent scientific researchers and various professionals. The organisation has one affiliate in North America, along with five regional support offices in Kenya, India, Brazil, Japan, and Malaysia; and one regional project support office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In order to achieve its objectives of building a robust pipeline and delivering 6-8 new treatments by 2014, DNDi requires a total of €230 million. To date, public institutional and private donors have contributed almost €130 million to DNDi.



Keys's Accomplishments into 2010

• Click here to see DNDi's Key Accomplishments into 2010.