AstraZeneca, Eisai, Shionogi, Takeda, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative infectious news
DNDi, Eisai, Shionogi, Takeda and AstraZeneca launched the Neglected Tropical Diseases Drug Discovery Booster consortium to accelerate the discovery of new candidates to treat leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. The DNDi will provide its four pharma partners with an initial compound against Leishmania or Trypanosoma cruzi, the two parasites that cause leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, respectively. The companies will search their own compound libraries for similar molecules and send the most promising candidates to DNDi, which will then screen them for potential efficacy against their corresponding disease.
DNDi said the initiative has already identified several undisclosed compounds from prior screening campaigns. The consortium aims to identify four potential candidates for each disease and move at least two to the next stage of development. The DNDi said the approach has the potential to cut up to two years from the early drug discovery process. ...