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Home > Neglected tropical diseases & neglected patients
mycetoma icon

Mycetoma

Looking for alternatives to amputation

Home > Neglected tropical diseases & neglected patients
mycetoma icon

Mycetoma

Looking for alternatives to amputation

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

We are running the world’s first mycetoma clinical trial and partnering with a virtual drug-discovery community to identify all-new treatments.

Mycetoma is a slow-growing infection that causes severe disabilities. Infection probably comes from the soil or animal dung and begins most often in the foot, after a cut allows the bacteria or fungus to enter. There is no effective cure for fungal mycetoma – amputation is often the only solution. Current treatments are frustratingly ineffective, even after 12 long months of treatment. They are also unaffordable and cause considerable side effects.

Icon interrogation point

Global burden is unknown

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0 %
cure rate with current treatments
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‘I got mycetoma 19 years ago after I was pricked by a thorn. Even after numerous treatments, eight surgeries, and finally an amputation of my leg, I don’t think I am healed.’

Alsadik Mohammed Musa Omer, Khartoum, Sudan
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What we have achieved

We are bringing much needed attention to mycetoma to help end the neglect of people with the disease.

Advocating for one of the world’s most neglected diseases

Mycetoma was added to WHO’s official list of neglected tropical diseases in 2016. We also endorsed a ‘Call for Action’ to accelerate global efforts to address the needs of people living with mycetoma.

What we are doing for people living with mycetoma

Our aim is to develop a safe, effective, and affordable treatment that is suitable for use in rural areas.

SEE TARGET PRODUCT PROFILE
Clinical trials

Fosravuconazole

The world’s first clinical trial for mycetoma treatment. Run at the world’s only specialized centre for mycetoma, located in Khartoum, Sudan, this study is testing Eisai’s fosravuconazole against current standard treatments that are expensive, ineffective, and come with serious side effects.

Drug discovery

MycetOS

Open-source drug discovery for mycetoma. DNDi is partnering with this virtual drug discovery community to find all-new treatments to end the neglect of fungal mycetoma – using a community-driven, fully transparent process that publishes data and results immediately in real time.

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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

Doctor diagnosing a man in a village with his hands on the man's neck

Sleeping sickness

Is 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

Young boy sitting on a hospital bed being examined by a nurse

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

Girl with skin lesions on her nose

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

Young man standing in the street

Hepatitis C

Millions are left without treatment even though effective drugs exist

We’re working to deliver a treatment as simple, safe, and effective as the best drugs available today – at a fraction of the cost 

Father walking in rural village with a cane and holding his son's hand

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

Woman standing in front of her door house in a rural village in Sudan

Mycetoma

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

We’re conducting the world’s first trial for an alternative to current treatments, which are toxic and ineffective

Mother holding her baby in her arms smiling

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

Girl looking over a fence

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

Cutaneous leishmaniasis

Filaria: river blindness

Hepatitis C

Mycetoma

Paediatric HIV

Sleeping sickness

Visceral leishmaniasis

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