Malaysian Ministry of Health through Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) today joined forces with the international non-profit medical research organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in a collaboration that aims to develop safe, affordable, and effective treatments for dengue fever.
Through this agreement, Malaysia joins a global dengue partnership led by dengue-endemic countries through a South-South collaboration to conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials, aimed at delivering an affordable and accessible treatments within five years.
DNDi and CRM will work together with Malaysia’s leading research institutes such as Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) and Institute for Medical Research (IMR) on joint projects to progress preclinical investigations of potential treatments, test the efficacy of repurposed drug candidates, and implement clinical trials of the most promising ones. At the same time, it will coordinate efforts to help overcome knowledge gaps and expedite clinical research to address unmet needs. The partnership will work together to mobilize resources, share research knowledge, and address financing gaps.
More than 70% of the global dengue burden is in Asia where severe dengue has become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children and adults in many countries. Malaysia has implemented several vector control strategies to prevent transmission of dengue and control outbreaks. Despite extensive research and development for dengue fever treatments and vaccines, effective solutions for the disease has not been achieved.
‘The Ministry of Health, Malaysia aims to continue on its trajectory by investing in preventive initiatives that will enhance dengue preparedness, towards eradicating the dengue epidemic by 2030. Leading much of these efforts, MOH is keen to continue its existing partnership with DNDi, that have led exemplary work in having established safe, affordable, and effective treatment of hepatitis C, garnered through collaborative efforts between developing nations, including Malaysia,’ said YB Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Health, Malaysia.
‘DNDi is proud to have Malaysia on board. It is exciting to see dengue-endemic countries unite to pool collective knowledge and expertise in addressing the need for safe and effective dengue treatments that are affordable and accessible for all patients,’ said Jean-Michel Piedagnel, Director, DNDi South-East Asia Regional Office.
About Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM)
Established by Malaysian Ministry of Health in 2012, Clinical Research Malaysia exists to advance global health solutions for a brighter, more hopeful future for the people by providing speedy and reliable end-to-end clinical research support for quality studies. CRM’s innate understanding of the local clinical research landscape with the international standards of operations coupled with fundamental backing of the government ministries provides the organisation an incomparable advantage to work with partners from the nascent stages of development to materialisation of the end product, in order to deliver better treatment and high-skilled job opportunities. https://clinicalresearch.my/
About DNDi
A not-for-profit research and development organization, DNDi works to deliver new treatments for neglected patients, those living with Chagas disease, sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), leishmaniasis, filarial infections, mycetoma, paediatric HIV, and hepatitis C. DNDi is also coordinating the ANTICOV clinical trial to find treatments for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases in Africa. Since its inception in 2003, DNDi has delivered nine new treatments to date, including new drug combinations for kala-azar, two fixed-dose antimalarials, and DNDi’s first successfully developed new chemical entity, fexinidazole, approved in 2018 for the treatment of both stages of sleeping sickness. dndi.org
Media contacts
DNDi
Molly Jagpal
mjagpal@dndi.org
+6012-546-8362
Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM)
Asha Thanabalan
asha@clinicalresearch.my
+6012- 364 8043
Photo credit: Luke Duggleby-DNDi
