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Home > Diseases
filarial icon

Filaria: river blindness

Developing a rapid cure for millions at risk of blindness

Home > Diseases
filarial icon

Filaria: river blindness

Developing a rapid cure for millions at risk of blindness

  • Overview
  • Facts
  • Projects & achievements
  • Target product profile

With a portfolio of three R&D projects, we are advancing the development of new drug candidates to develop a safe, effective, field-adapted treatment.

Filarial diseases are a debilitating group of diseases caused by parasitic worms transmitted by the bite of blood-feeding insects. People are infected with river blindness (also known as onchocerciasis) by repeated exposure to blackflies that breed in fast-flowing rivers. The flies transmit worms that can cause severe itching and disfiguring skin lesions, and repeated infection can lead to blindness. Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk.

Treatments that can kill adult filarial worms and be used for individual patient treatment are urgently needed. The current approach to eliminating river blindness is based on the mass distribution of ivermectin. While successful in reducing the prevalence of the disease, these programmes need to be repeated for 10-12 years because the drug only kills juvenile worms – not the adult worms, which can live for more than ten years in the human body.

Icon people in front of globe
people are living with river blindness
million
Icon eye
people with vision loss
0 million
Map Africa
infected people live in 31 African countries
0 %
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‘Sometimes I cry all night, sometimes from suffering, sometimes from misery, and sometimes from poverty… My heart hurts from my lack of hope. I live a life of suffering.’

Gertride Mapuani, a 61-year-old with river blindness, divorced and thrown out of her house by her husband because of the disease, in Babagulu village, DRC.

What we have achieved

We have built a portfolio of four R&D projects for river blindness and are pursuing the pre-clinical development of drug candidates.

What we are doing for people with river blindness

We aim to complete development and register at least one new drug for river blindness. We are also seeking to identify potential new drug candidates by evaluating registered drugs, as well as pre-clinical and clinical drug candidates to populate the empty drug pipeline.

Read more in our Annual Report
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Translational research

Emodepside

New effective, field-adapted drug. Together with Bayer Pharma, we are working to develop emodepside as a new treatment for river blindness with the potential to kill both adult filarial worms and their embryonic larvae, which can cause debilitating and disfiguring clinical symptoms.

Translational research

Oxfendazole

Based on encouraging pre-clinical data, DNDi and our partners in the HELP Consortium are moving forward with the pharmaceutical development of oxfendazole, identified in 2016 as a potential treatment for river blindness capable of eliminating adult worms.

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River blindness news & resources

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News
4 Mar 2025

2024 R&D programmes in review: Filaria – river blindness

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30 Jan 2025

Science and collaboration can end the neglect – World NTD Day 2025

Publications
24 Sep 2024

HAT Platform Newsletter No. 23

Stories
2 Sep 2024

From Ituri to Geneva, in the search for new medicines for river blindness

See all news

Making medical history for neglected patients

We develop urgently needed treatments for neglected patients and ensure they’re affordable, available, and adapted to the communities who need them

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Chagas disease

Causes heart and vital organ damage, after people are bitten by blood-sucking bugs

We delivered the first-ever treatment for children; now we’re searching for new drug candidates and working to boost access to care

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Cryptococcal meningitis

Without treatment, deadly for thousands of people with advanced HIV

We’re working to improve access to life-saving treatments and developing an easier-to-use formulation

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Cutaneous leishmaniasis

Leaves disfiguring, life-long scars that lead to severe social stigma

We’re working to develop safer, shorter treatments for this disabling disease

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Dengue

Rapidly spreading climate-sensitive disease with no specific treatment

We’re building a global partnership with dengue-endemic countries to develop a first treatment

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Filaria: river blindness

Lead to unbearable itching, disfiguring skin lesions, and even blindness

We’re working to develop a safe, effective, and affordable drug for the prevention and treatment of this debilitating disease

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Hepatitis C

Millions are left without treatment even though effective drugs exist

We’ve delivered a treatment as simple, safe, and effective as the best drugs available today – at a fraction of the cost 

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Mycetoma

Often ends in amputation​, after people get infected from stepping on a thorn

We conducted the world’s first trial for an alternative to current treatments, which are toxic and difficult to administer

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Paediatric HIV

Without treatment, half of children die before their second birthday

We’ve developed a strawberry-flavoured treatment to meet the needs of children long neglected by the global HIV response

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Pandemic Preparedness

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified global health inequalities

We’re bringing together partners and accelerating research to prepare for future viral pandemics in low-resource settings

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Sleeping sickness

Transmitted by the bite of a tsetse fly and causes severe neurological disorders

We delivered a revolutionary new drug to replace toxic treatments, and have ongoing trials to eliminate this disease

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Visceral leishmaniasis

Is one of the world’s biggest parasitic killers, spread by the bites of sandflies

We’re working to develop a new generation of treatments to replace drugs that are painful, ineffective, and cause side effects

Chagas disease

Cryptococcal meningitis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis

Dengue

Filaria: river blindness

Hepatitis C

Mycetoma

Paediatric HIV

Pandemic Preparedness

Sleeping sickness

Visceral leishmaniasis

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