• DNDi - Best Science for the Most Neglected 20 Years
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • COVID-19
      • Antimicrobial resistance
    • Research & development
      • R&D portfolio & list of projects
      • Drug discovery
      • Translational research
      • Clinical trials
      • Registration & access
      • Treatments delivered
    • Advocacy
      • Open and collaborative R&D
      • Transparency of R&D costs
      • Pro-access policies and IP
      • Children’s health
      • Gender equity
      • Climate change
      • AI and new technologies
  • Networks & partners
    • Partnerships
      • Our partners
      • Partnering with us
    • Global networks
      • Chagas Platform
      • Dengue Alliance
      • HAT Platform
      • HELP Helminth Elimination Platform
      • LEAP Platform
      • redeLEISH Network
    • DNDi worldwide
      • DNDi Switzerland
      • DNDi DRC
      • DNDi Eastern Africa
      • DNDi Japan
      • DNDi Latin America
      • DNDi North America
      • DNDi South Asia
      • DNDi South-East Asia
      • DNDi Southern Africa
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
DNDi - Best Science for the Most Neglected 20 Years
  • DNDi - Best Science for the Most Neglected 20 Years
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • COVID-19
      • Antimicrobial resistance
    • Research & development
      • R&D portfolio & list of projects
      • Drug discovery
      • Translational research
      • Clinical trials
      • Registration & access
      • Treatments delivered
    • Advocacy
      • Open and collaborative R&D
      • Transparency of R&D costs
      • Pro-access policies and IP
      • Children’s health
      • Gender equity
      • Climate change
      • AI and new technologies
  • Networks & partners
    • Partnerships
      • Our partners
      • Partnering with us
    • Global networks
      • Chagas Platform
      • Dengue Alliance
      • HAT Platform
      • HELP Helminth Elimination Platform
      • LEAP Platform
      • redeLEISH Network
    • DNDi worldwide
      • DNDi Switzerland
      • DNDi DRC
      • DNDi Eastern Africa
      • DNDi Japan
      • DNDi Latin America
      • DNDi North America
      • DNDi South Asia
      • DNDi South-East Asia
      • DNDi Southern Africa
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
Home > About > Annual reports > Annual Report 2021
Foreword
Home > About > Annual reports > Annual Report 2021
Foreword
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email
Share on print

Responding to the urgent public health needs of the most vulnerable and ensuring DNDi’s ‘experiment in innovation’ bears fruit depend entirely on the dedication, commitment, and resolve of our partners, supporters, and staff.

We would like to begin this report by thanking you for the progress we are making together as we realize our pledge to deliver 25 new treatments in our first 25 years – the core commitment of our 2021-2028 Strategic Plan launched last year.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic continued to take a devastating toll in 2021, we advanced 50 projects in our research and development (R&D) portfolio, including multiple new chemical entities, delivered new treatments, and forged new alliances for innovation.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic continued to take a devastating toll in 2021, we advanced 50 projects in our research and development (R&D) portfolio, including multiple new chemical entities, delivered new treatments, and forged new alliances for innovation.

With five new chemical entities for leishmaniasis advancing in clinical trials,  our teams and partners are making major strides towards our long-term goal of developing all-new, all-oral drugs to dramatically improve treatment. We also delivered on our short-term strategy of improving treatment regimens using existing drugs, including, as this report goes to print, the World Health Organization’s release of new guidelines for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in people living with HIV, and PAHO’s preparation of new guidelines for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis, both informed by trials conducted by DNDi and partners in India, Ethiopia, and Brazil.

Fexinidazole was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration as the first all-oral treatment for both stages of T.b. gambiense sleeping sickness, following earlier approval by regulatory authorities in Europe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. Our teams also completed data analysis for our pivotal Phase II/III trial evaluating acoziborole, a single-dose oral treatment that has the potential to secure sustainable elimination of the deadly disease.

In June 2021, ravidasvir, a new all-oral treatment for hepatitis C and the first to be developed through South-South collaboration, received conditional registration in Malaysia, following results published in The Lancet which showed 97% of participants were cured with the sofosbuvir + ravidasvir combination.

Brokering innovative South-South research collaborations such as these is a core element of DNDi’s strategy. In the past few months, we have joined with government, science, and industry partners in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil to find a safe, effective, and affordable treatment for dengue fever, reinforcing DNDi’s strategic imperative to address climate-sensitive diseases.

Our 2021-2028 Strategic Plan also reaffirms our commitment to bridging critical gaps in R&D for child-friendly medicines to ensure that every child enjoys their full right to health and access to safe, effective treatment. DNDi has delivered five treatments designed specifically to meet children’s needs since our founding, including our most recent: a ‘4-in-1’ combination treatment for children with HIV that was registered by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority in May 2022.

Our teams have also remained focused on pandemic preparedness and response. We continued to lead a consortium of 25 partner organizations from Africa and around the world conducting the ANTICOV clinical trial across 20 sites in 13 African countries to answer the need for outpatient treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in resource-constrained settings, a question largely left unanswered by others. We also worked to identify drug candidates for COVID-19 and future coronaviruses, including through the Moonshot project, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists dedicated to the discovery of affordable and accessible drugs against viral pandemics. We hope to see new potential treatments advancing to clinical testing in 2023.

Our mission is also to help build a more equitable system for innovation and access. We continued work to influence policy decisions to improve access to the fruits of scientific progress for all, urging the international community to learn the positive lessons and avoid repeating mistakes that would hinder innovation of and access to health technologies for COVID-19 and future pandemics.

As this report goes to print, DNDi is preparing to join government and global health leaders for the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, where we will share our belief that innovation is the key to a disease-free generation. We will continue to do our part to deliver the safe and effective therapeutic innovations needed to save lives and achieve sustainable disease elimination.

Finally, as we set our sights on the great opportunities and important work that lie ahead, we are delighted to welcome Dr Luis Pizarro as DNDi’s incoming Executive Director. Luis is a proven leader and constant ally in global collaborations advancing medical innovation and access to healthcare for vulnerable populations.  Together, we look forward to this exciting time for DNDi.

On behalf of everyone at DNDi, we thank you for helping to make our experiment in innovation for neglected patients a success.

Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Chair of the Board of Directors &
Dr Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director

Dr Luis Pizarro

Incoming Executive Director

Dr Luis Pizarro is the incoming Executive Director of DNDi, taking over the role from DNDi’s founder, Dr Bernard Pécoul, in September 2022.

Dr Pizarro is a Chilean-French medical doctor and global health leader. He also serves as founder and member of the Global Health 2030 think tank, as scientific advisor for Global Health at Sciences Po Paris, and as a board member of Sidaction. Having led medical projects for several years in West Africa, he became the first CEO of Solthis, from 2007 to 2019, successfully developing the international health and solidarity organization to become one of the leaders in health in West and Central Africa.  In 2020, Dr Pizarro joined Unitaid’s leadership team during the COVID crisis to lead the international organization’s HIV portfolio and related access programmes.

BACK TO 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

Photo credits: Rowan Pybus-DNDi; Manon Voland-DNDi; Ariane Mawaffo-DNDi

Connect and share

Follow us on social media to stay updated and help us share the stories of neglected patients.  

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Youtube
Linkedin
EN ESPAÑOL
EM PORTUGUÊS
DNDi - Best Science for the Most Neglected 20 Years
Facebook-f
Twitter
Instagram
Linkedin-in
Youtube
International non-profit developing safe, effective, and affordable treatments for the most neglected patients.

Learn more

  • Diseases
  • Neglected tropical diseases
  • R&D portfolio
  • Policy advocacy

Get in touch

  • Our offices
  • Contact us
  • Integrity Line

Support us

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to eNews

Work with us

  • Join research networks
  • Jobs
  • RFPs
  • Terms of Use   
  •   Acceptable Use Policy   
  •   Privacy Policy   
  •   Cookie Policy   
  •   Our policies   

  • Except for images, films and trademarks which are subject to DNDi’s Terms of Use, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Switzerland License   
This website uses necessary cookies to function. If you give your consent, we will also use statistical, functional, and marketing cookies. See Cookie Policy.
Customize
REJECT ACCEPT ALL
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
elementorneverThis cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_16Q5RH3XRG2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_UA-10302561-11 minuteA variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
_hjFirstSeen30 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit.
_hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.
_hjSession_112884430 minutesHotjar sets this cookie.
_hjSessionUser_11288441 yearHotjar sets this cookie.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Targeting
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo