Neglected Tropical Disease News and Research

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DNDi, AstraZeneca enter collaboration on drug-compound screening for NTDs

AstraZeneca and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) today announce an agreement to collaborate on drug-compound screening for leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness, three neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) which together affect nearly 10 million people worldwide.

12 Apr 2012

Shoes play vital role in protecting children's health, development

"As we have seen in our work in Haiti and around the world, shoes are a first level of defense when it comes to good health, and are a great complement to the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control program IMA World Health implements in Haiti," Rick Santos, president and CEO of IMA World Health, writes in the Huffington Post Blog, commemorating One Day Without Shoes, observed on Tuesday.

12 Apr 2012

Eisai, University of Kansas grant water-soluble pro-drug technology patent to OneWorld Health

OneWorld Health (OWH), a nonprofit that develops lifesaving medicines for neglected diseases, announced that it has signed a nonexclusive patent agreement with Eisai Co., Ltd., for a water-soluble pro-drug technology patent. OWH will use the pro-drug technology to advance development of iOWH032, its new drug to treat acute secretory diarrhea.

2 Apr 2012

USAID NTD Program funding cut by nearly 25% in proposed FY13 budget

"The United States Government has played a major role in ensuring that patients with certain [neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)] receive urgently needed treatments through the [USAID] NTD Program, while simultaneously being the largest funder of basic research for NTDs through the National Institutes of Health,"

30 Mar 2012

Bringing together NTD and WASH sectors of public health

In this post in the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog, Stephanie Ogden -- a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and neglected tropical disease (NTD) consultant with Emory's Center for Global Safe Water, Children Without Worms, and the International Trachoma Initiative -- writes about a partnership among these organizations.

23 Mar 2012

UI receives three grants to hasten discovery of new TB therapeutics

Forty-five years. That's how long it's been since the last drug - rifampin - hit the market to treat tuberculosis, an infection that affects nearly one third of the world's population and causes 1.8 million deaths annually. The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy has received three new federally-funded grants to hasten the discovery of new therapeutic treatments.

23 Mar 2012

First international podoconiosis initiative launched

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog highlights "the first-ever international podoconiosis initiative, Footwork," launched on March 15.

19 Mar 2012

PaxVax announces FDA acceptance of IND for PXVX-0200 cholera vaccine

PaxVax Corporation, developer of innovative and socially responsible oral vaccines against infectious diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its investigational new drug (IND) application for its single-dose oral cholera vaccine, clearing the way to begin clinical trials. The company intends to begin Phase 3 trials later this year.

19 Mar 2012

DNDi commences Oxaborole SCYX-7158 Phase I clinical trial for sleeping sickness

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has commenced a Phase I clinical trial in healthy adults in Paris, France, to determine the safety and tolerability of a promising oral drug candidate Oxaborole SCYX-7158, to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness) for stage 1 and stage 2 of the disease.

12 Mar 2012

Study suggests onchocerciasis can be eliminated with sustained distribution of treatment

"New research supported by Sightsavers and the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) shows that yes, onchocerciasis really can be eliminated when treatment is distributed in an area for a sustained period" and "found that the disease may already be eliminated in one Nigerian state, marking a significant milestone for onchocerciasis control programs," the Global Network for Neglected Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog writes.

8 Mar 2012

Study examines relationship between conflict, rise in NTDs in Middle East, North Africa

A study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease on Tuesday examines the relationship between political conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and "the spread or re-emergence of a variety of tropical diseases -- some previously eliminated or controlled -- affecting an estimated 65 million people" in the region, VOA News reports.

3 Mar 2012

Budget cuts threaten global health progress, advocacy group warns in report

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) -- consisting of 40 global health research and advocacy organizations -- on Tuesday held a congressional briefing to launch its third annual policy report, titled "Sustaining Progress: Creating U.S. policies to spur global health innovation," GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports (Donnelly, 2/28).

1 Mar 2012

Eradication of river blindness in Africa is feasible

In this AlertNet opinion piece, Simon Bush, director of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at Sightsavers, an international NGO helping people with visual impairments in developing countries, examines efforts to rid Africa of onchocerciasis -- a blinding NTD.

24 Feb 2012

IDRI launches LEISH-F3 + GLA-SE Phase 1 trial for kala-azar

The first clinical trial of a new vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been launched by the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a Seattle-based nonprofit that develops products to prevent, detect, and treat diseases of poverty. The Phase 1 trial is taking place in Washington State, with a companion Phase 1 trial planned in India, an epicenter of the disease.

23 Feb 2012

Updated tool to track NTD funding, identify gaps

The Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program (NTD Control Program), funded by USAID and managed by Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International), has released an updated version of its NTD Funding Gap Analysis Tool (NTD-FGAT), which "helps users accurately estimate the costs and funding gaps of public health programs" and "is intended as a supplementary instrument to improve resource and strategic planning in an already existing national NTD plan," according to the Global Network for NTDs' "End the Neglect" blog.

15 Feb 2012

Administration officials announce new initiatives to promote innovations in global development

In a White House briefing on Wednesday, "senior Administration officials announced a series of new initiatives to promote game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges" in response to President Obama's "call to harness science technology, and innovation to spark global development," Gayle Smith, special assistant to the president, and Tom Kalil, senior adviser for science, technology, and innovation, write in this post in the White House Blog.

10 Feb 2012

Economic transformation in Latin America an opportunity to improve NTD strategies, DNDi regional director says

"The rise of emerging economies in Latin America is an opportunity to improve strategies for fighting neglected illnesses and increase the region's contribution to the global struggle against them, says" Eric Stobbaerts, the Latin America director of the independent Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Inter Press Service reports.

7 Feb 2012

'Humanosphere' blog examines roles of former President Carter, researcher Foege in fighting NTDs

This post in KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog examines how former President Jimmy Carter gave the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) "a good first shove nearly 30 years ago," writing, "Neglected diseases like river blindness, Guinea worm, parasitic (lymphatic) elephantiasis and schistosomiasis have been in Carter's cross hairs since the mid-1980s."

4 Feb 2012

Researchers identify fexinidazole as potential new therapy for visceral leishmaniasis

Researchers at the University of Dundee have identified fexinidazole as a possible, much-needed, new treatment for the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis.

3 Feb 2012

Opinion pieces, blog react to new public-private NTD initiative

Pharmaceutical company heads and global health leaders gathered at a conference on Monday in London to announce the formation of a large public-private partnership to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and endorse the "London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases", in which they pledged to work together and track progress.

1 Feb 2012