The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) welcomes new financial support from the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund for the Chagas disease lead identification project led by Eisai Co., Ltd. (Eisai) through a USD 1.1 million/JPY 183 million grant.
The objective of this project is to identify phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor lead compounds with favourable profiles and demonstrated efficacy in an acute Chagas disease model. These efforts will advance promising compounds toward the development of potential new treatments.
There is an urgent need for new treatments for Chagas disease, which affects around 7 million people worldwide. Current drugs – benznidazole and nifurtimox – were discovered over fifty years ago, require lengthy treatment, can cause adverse effects, and lack effectiveness against chronic infection. By pursuing a hit-to-lead campaign focused on PDE inhibitors as a novel drug target, this project seeks to advance research and development towards a short-course, oral treatment effective against chronic Chagas disease.
The project is led by Eisai in collaboration with DNDi, Universidad Nacional de la Plata (UNLP), Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular “Dr. Héctor N. Torres” (INGEBI), and Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica (IMPaM).
More information about Chagas disease and DNDi’s work on Chagas disease
Photo credit: Xavier Vahed-DNDi
