Recent news
July 2011
Partnership advances sleeping sickness drug candidate
July 6, 2011 -- The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Anacor Pharmaceuticals, and SCYNEXIS Inc. have announced the successful completion of pre-clinical studies for a new oral drug candidate to combat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness. An article released in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases reveals the initial successful results of pre-clinical studies of the new compound, which will soon advance to human clinical trials.
In pre-clinical studies, the new drug candidate demonstrated safety and efficacy against stage 1 and stage 2 of the disease. In addition, its oral formulation, short duration of therapy and excellent pre-clinical safety profile imply that the drug candidate could change the way sleeping sickness is treated, reduce its incidence in humans, and contribute to elimination of the disease.
The successful development of the new compound was the result of a unique collaboration between Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company in California, SCYNEXIS, a drug discovery and development company based in North Carolina, and DNDi, a not-for-profit research and development (R&D) organization that develops new drugs to address the needs of the world’s most neglected populations.
“This innovative collaboration, expounding upon the expertise and engagement of two biotech companies and a not-for-profit R&D organization, has brought excellent results thus far, and this in an incredibly short timeframe,” said Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi. “The message is clear that it is possible to stimulate patient needs-driven R&D for neglected tropical diseases, even if there is no commercial market.” See the links below for more information.
