Tropical Disease Treatment At Heart Of New Research Collaboration
By Lori Clapper
Celgene Global Health (CGH), a division of Celgene Corporation, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) inked a four-year research collaboration agreement Wednesday. The organizations will expand on the parties’ ongoing collaboration in order to discover and produce new treatment options for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Celgene will provide DNDi with the data and tools necessary to help accelerate clinical development of new treatments for patients with NTDs, including: leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, river blindness, elephantiasis, among others. CGH will provide novel compounds of interest for the targeted diseases, as well as access to its target-identification and drug-discovery technology platforms to hone in on clinical candidates. DNDi will handle hit confirmation, coordinating and conducting hit expansion, hit-to-lead compound work, and subsequent lead optimization work, Medical News reported.
As per the agreement, this collaboration will enable DNDi pursue many leads in the noncommunicable diseases realm in all endemic countries without having the burden of royalties or licensing fees. Celgene retains the rights to first negotiation to partner with DNDi's clinical development, manufacture, and distribution.
"Working with DNDi is a reflection of the potential value that Celgene's Global Health program is creating to address diseases that afflict patients in many of the world's lowest-income settings. We are very pleased to be partnering with DNDi on this effort," Dr. Jerry Zeldis, CEO of Celgene Global Health and Chief Medical Officer of Celgene, said.
"We are very pleased to pursue our collaboration with CGH further, to identify new compounds for the treatment of neglected diseases,” added Dr Bernard P-coul, Executive Director of DNDi. “The expertise Celgene has developed over the past years with its global health focus will be a great asset to drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases."
With the rise of Ebola, many drug companies have begun setting their sights on neglected disease treatments. A recent report from Science Translational Medicine highlighted the dire need for new vaccines for a range of different tropical diseases outside of the headline-making Ebola virus. Some of these diseases include Malaria, Tuberculosis, Influenza, Dengue, and HIV. Perhaps the tides are turning; according to a WallStreet Journal article, R&D spending on some of these diseases has risen roughly 20 percent per year from 2008 to 2012.