Neglected Tropical Disease News and Research

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Scientists identify nicotinamidase enzyme as new drug target for Leishmaniasis

IRD scientist and their research partners recently identified the key role of nicotinamidase, an enzyme in the parasite Leishmania, essential for its survival but which does not exist in humans. The pathogen is incapable of developing in mammals In the absence of this enzyme. Specific targeting of this enzyme could lead to more effective ways of controlling this neglected tropical disease.

29 Oct 2011

USAID's Bureau for Global Health awards Envision project to RTI

Since the 2006 launch of USAID's Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Program, which is managed by RTI, "more than 447 million NTD treatments have been provided to more than 82 million people," the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog reports.

28 Oct 2011

World Health Summit provides platform to discuss incorporating NTDs into MDGs

In anticipation of next week's 2011 World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany, Neeraj Mistry, managing director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease, recaps gains in the treatment and prevention of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) around the world through the commitment of the U.S., the U.K. and other G8 countries and makes the case for a global NTD initiative in the network's "End the Neglect" blog.

24 Oct 2011

WHO, partners prepare to launch database for sharing intellectual property

"The World Intellectual Property Organization, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, private sector and foundation partners, is preparing to launch a new voluntary database for the sharing of intellectual property for research and development on medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for neglected diseases, according to sources in Geneva," Intellectual Property Watch reports.

21 Oct 2011

Experimental vaccine halves risk of malaria in African children, results of large clinical trial suggest

"An experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of African children getting malaria in a major clinical trial, making it likely to become the world's first shot against the deadly disease," according to a study "presented at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Malaria Forum conference in Seattle and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine" on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

20 Oct 2011

Study finds experimental vaccine protects monkeys from blinding trachoma

"An attenuated, or weakened, strain of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria can be used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, suggest findings from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study in monkeys," an NIH press release reports.

12 Oct 2011

Potential vaccine against trachoma

An attenuated, or weakened, strain of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria can be used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, suggest findings from a National Institutes of Health study in monkeys.

10 Oct 2011

High prevalence of NTDs in Central Asia after 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union

The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish an article emphasizing the rising burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Central Asia on Tuesday, Sept. 27th.

28 Sep 2011

UCI professor wins Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers

Rommie Amaro, UC Irvine assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences and computer science, has been selected by President Obama for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers.

28 Sep 2011

Afraxis to participate in NIH's Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Disease Program

Afraxis, a San Diego-based biotechnology company developing drugs to treat rare genetic diseases through the modulation of p21-activated kinase (PAK), announced today that it has been selected to participate in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Disease (TRND) Program.

27 Sep 2011

Sodium Stibogluconate & Paromomycin combination treatment for Kala azar

East Africa is fighting the worst kala azar outbreak in a decade. Collaboration across the region through the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform (LEAP) has resulted in the development of a new combination therapy (SSG&PM) which is cheaper and nearly halves the length of treatment from a 30 day course of injections to 17 days.

26 Sep 2011

More funding for leishmaniasis treatment could save more lives in East African outbreak

"East Africa's worst outbreak in a decade of visceral leishmaniasis, the deadliest parasitic disease after malaria, could ease if donors paid more attention to the illness," which infects approximately 500,000 people and kills up to 60,000 annually in 70 countries, the non-profit group "Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, or LEAP, said in a statement from Nairobi" on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

23 Sep 2011

Supplement in USA Today highlights global NTD eradication efforts

This supplement (.pdf) by Mediaplanet, distributed in the September 15 issue of USA Today in select cities nationwide, examines the latest programs dedicated to eradicating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide.

17 Sep 2011

Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification test for human African trypanosomiasis

The Geneva-based not-for-profit foundation FIND and Japanese diagnostics company Eiken announced today that a next-generation molecular test designed specifically for sleeping sickness - a deadly parasitic disease also known as human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) - is ready to enter accelerated field trials in sites across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

16 Sep 2011

U.K. Coalition against NTDs officially launched in London

This "End the Neglect" blog post reports that the U.K. Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) was officially launched on Tuesday at the All Parliamentary Group on Malaria and NTDs meeting in London.

15 Sep 2011

Researchers at South Korean lab make advance in fight against neglected tropical diseases

VOA News reports on a scientific breakthrough, which researchers call a "game changer" for developing new drugs, developed at Institut Pasteur Korea [IPK], a South Korean branch of the 124-year-old French research institute that is developing new drugs to combat diseases mainly affecting developing countries, including neglected tropical diseases.

14 Sep 2011

Gates Foundation's Ananya Alliance aims to improve newborn health in India

Usha Kiran Tarigopula, deputy director in global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes about the Foundation's partnership with the state of Bihar, India through the Ananya Alliance "aimed at reducing maternal, newborn, and child mortality by 40 percent by 2015," in this "Inpatient Optimists" blog post, which is part of a series called "Global Conversations on Newborn Health in India."

12 Sep 2011

IPS examines DNDi program to develop pediatric HIV drugs

Inter Press Service profiles a program launched by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to develop antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) specifically designed for children living with HIV/AIDS.

31 Aug 2011

Researchers turn their attention to Chagas disease as developed countries see rise in infection rates

Chagas disease, a historically neglected tropical disease that the WHO estimates affects about 10 million people worldwide, is drawing increased attention as infection by the parasite spreads from Latin America to developed countries, such as Spain and the United States, Science reports.

20 Aug 2011

DNDi addresses 'alarming lack' of R&D for neglected diseases

In a Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment blog post, the third part of the center's Product Development Partnership (PDP) mini-series, "Bernard Pecoul from the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) discusses their experience with partnerships to develop treatments for neglected diseases."

18 Aug 2011