[Ip-health] ALERT: DNDi Receives $25.7M from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Develop New Medicines for Neglected Diseases

[Ann-Marie Sevcsik]

DNDi Receives $25.7M from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Develop Ne=
w Medicines for Neglected Diseases

12 December, Geneva, Switzerland: The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiati=
ve (DNDi) has received a USD 25.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gat=
es Foundation to research and develop new medicines to treat human African =
trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, and visceral leishm=
aniasis (VL).

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant will help DNDi fill critical gap=
s in the HAT and VL drug development pipelines by supporting our lead optim=
ization drug discovery programs for HAT and VL, which will in turn fuel our=
 drug development projects," stated Dr. Bernard Pecoul, Executive Director =
of DNDi. "With the goal of providing better, low-cost treatments, we are in=
tensifying neglected diseases research and are endeavoring to rekindle the =
hopes of the many people who suffer from these diseases in the poorest regi=
ons of the world."

The grant, to be disbursed to DNDi over five years, will provide critical f=
unding for the research and development of new drug candidates for HAT and =
VL. DNDi will foster the development of the drug candidates through the pre=
clinical stages and select one lead candidate for each disease to advance i=
nto Phase I human clinical trials.

"The pledge of $25.7M highlights the urgent need to accelerate R&D for negl=
ected diseases," remarked Dr. Shing Chang, Director of Research & Developme=
nt at DNDi. "This important commitment to HAT and VL drug discovery will se=
rve to encourage research into new, innovative treatment options for these =
diseases."

"Far too little R&D is devoted to neglected diseases such as trypanosomiasi=
s and visceral leishmaniasis, which threaten millions of people in the deve=
loping world but are virtually unheard of in rich countries," said Dr. Regi=
na Rabinovich, Director of Infectious Diseases Development at the Gates Fou=
ndation. "By helping to close this research gap, DNDi is bringing us closer=
 to the day when the word 'neglected' no longer applies to these diseases."

For more information, please consult http://www.dndi.org or contact:
Ann-Marie Sevcsik at amsevcsik@dndi.org or +41 (0)79 814 9147.

About the Diseases - HAT and VL
A fatal disease if not treated, HAT threatens more than 50 million people i=
n 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The few drugs currently in existence =
to treat either Stage 1 or Stage 2 of the disease have a number of serious =
limitations including severe toxicity, the difficulty of administration, co=
st, and lost efficacy in several regions. The difficulty of diagnosis, stag=
e determination, and increasing numbers of treatment failures pose addition=
al clinical challenges.

The urgent need for new drugs to treat VL is also deeply compelling. A pote=
ntially fatal disease, VL threatens 200 million people in 62 countries and =
has a fatality rate as high as 100% within 2 years in some developing count=
ries. Of the 500,000 new cases each year, almost all (~90%) arise from recu=
rrent epidemics in poor, rural areas of the Indian subcontinent, Brazil, an=
d Sudan, with approximately 60,000 deaths each year. Therapeutic options fo=
r VL are limited as there are significant drawbacks like route of administr=
ation, toxicity, or cost.


About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is an independent, not-f=
or-profit drug development initiative established in 2003 by five publicly-=
funded research organisations - the Malaysian Ministry of Health, the Kenya=
 Medical Research Institute, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Os=
waldo Cruz Foundation Brazil, and the Institut Pasteur - as well as an inte=
rnational humanitarian organisation, M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res. The UNIC=
EF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tro=
pical Diseases (TDR) is a permanent observer. With a current portfolio of 1=
8 projects, DNDi aims to develop new, improved, and field-relevant drugs fo=
r neglected diseases, such as malaria, leishmaniasis, human African trypano=
somiasis, and Chagas disease that afflict the very poor in developing count=
ries.
=A0
DNDi needs an additional EUR 200 million in funding in order to achieve its=
 objectives of building a robust pipeline and delivering six to eight=A0new=
 treatments by 2014. To date, DNDi has secured EUR 74 million=A0from public=
 and private donors, including a significant initial contribution from M=E9=
decins Sans Fronti=E8res/Doctors Without Borders.
=A0