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DNDi: addressing the therapeutic needs of the most neglected
Founded in 2003 to address the needs of patients with the most neglected diseases, DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative) is a collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, virtual, not-for-profit drug R&D organization that develops new treatments for some of the most neglected communicable diseases (malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease).
In pursuing these new treatments, DNDi manages R&D networks built on South-South and North-South collaborations and helps to build additional capacity in a sustainable manner through technology transfer in the field of drug R&D for neglected diseases. DNDi also works to raise awareness about the need to develop new drugs for neglected diseases and to advocate for increased public responsibility.
Vital to DNDi’s efforts have been its Founding Partners, who include several public sector organisations in neglected disease-endemic countries - the Foundation Oswaldo Cruz /Farmanguinhos in Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and the Ministry of Health in Malaysia - along with the international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, the Institut Pasteur, and with the UNICEF-UNDP-World Bank-WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO/TDR) as special observer.
DNDi today is team of committed people who are dedicated to maintaining the momentum achieved since the launch of the initiative in 2003. With a small team of permanent staff in Geneva along with 5 regional support liaison offices (Brazil, Kenya, India, Malaysia, and the US), 2 regional project support offices (Democratic Republic of Congo and Japan), and several short-term consultants, DNDi has made significant headway in achieving DNDi’s mission:
Portfolio
DNDi is building a portfolio, which already contains strong projects for two of the target diseases (human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) and visceral leishmaniasis) and taps networks of expertise in many different fields. This portfolio is designed to meet the primary R&D objective of making 6-8 new treatments available to patients by 2014, and also to create a robust pipeline for all target diseases into the future.
In addition to the 2 FACT-related projects, DNDi’s portfolio (as of February 2007) contains 20 projects – 11 discovery, 4 preclinical, 5 clinical – focused on drug R&D for the kinetoplastid diseases of HAT, VL, and Chagas disease.
Partnerships Enabling Access to Research Capacity
DNDi has helped to establish two disease-specific platforms (HAT and VL) in Africa, that develop clinical research capacity in endemic regions. DNDi has also attracted quality R&D partners for all stages of drug development: from the many partners of the Pan-Asian Natural Products Screening Platform to a late-stage industrial partner like sanofi-aventis to develop and distribute ASAQ.
Policy
Government support is essential to sustain needs-driven R&D for new health tools and to implement effective interventions when available. DNDi advocates that governments set needs-driven global health R&D priorities and create novel funding mechanisms to support essential health R&D (visit www.researchappeal.org). Funding for neglected diseases drug R&D by DNDi has been secured from a number of governments including France, the Netherlands, and the UK.
To learn more about DNDi’s activities, please visit www.dndi.org.
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