Sleeping sickness
Delivering all-new treatments to eliminate a deadly disease
Sleeping sickness
Delivering all-new treatments to eliminate a deadly disease
We revolutionized the treatment of sleeping sickness with two simple, all-oral cures to replace toxic, cumbersome medicines. We are now advancing studies that could enable simplified test-and-treat strategies to bring treatment closer to affected communities and boost efforts to achieve sustainable elimination.
Caused by parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly, people develop sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis) after an initial phase with symptoms like headache and fever. In the second stage, parasites attack the central nervous system, causing sleep disruption, severe neuropsychiatric disorders, convulsions, and coma. Without treatment, it is usually fatal.
For decades, the only treatment available for sleeping sickness was melarsoprol, an arsenic derivative that killed 1 in 20 patients.
‘I lost weight, I had fever, I started talking to myself. I was hot, I couldn’t do anything. I was vomiting and couldn’t eat. By the time I made it to the hospital, I was near delirious: singing, rolling on the floor, dancing. I felt crazy.’
What we have achieved
We have revolutionized the treatment of sleeping sickness, replacing toxic, cumbersome medicines with two simple, all-oral cures.
A one-day, single-dose oral treatment. Approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2026, acoziborole could be given at community level and become a major tool to facilitate elimination of this deadly disease.
The first patient-friendly, all-oral treatment. Approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2018, DNDi’s first ‘new chemical entity’ cures the most common form of sleeping sickness in just 10 days of simple, 1-pill-per-day treatment.
Less common – but more acute. We evaluated fexinidazole to treat the less common T.b. rhodesiense strain of sleeping sickness found in Eastern and Southern Africa. A safe and effective alternative to current drugs, it was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2023.
The first improved treatment for sleeping sickness. Before DNDi delivered nifurtimox and eflornithine combination therapy in 2009, doctors often had no choice but to treat sleeping sickness with melarsoprol, a highly toxic, arsenic-based drug that killed 1 in 20 patients.
What we are doing for people living with sleeping sickness
We are working to transform treatment for sleeping sickness by testing simplified test-and-treat strategies to bring treatment closer to communities. Through the DNDi-supported HAT Platform, a research network anchored in endemic countries, we are coordinating research activities to ensure new treatments are evaluated, registered, and made accessible to patients – providing even better tools to eliminate sleeping sickness.
Sleeping sickness news & resources
Making medical history for neglected patients
We develop urgently needed treatments for neglected patients and ensure they’re affordable, available, and adapted to the communities who need them
Stay connected
Get our latest news, personal stories, research articles, and job opportunities.
