DNDi’s stake in bringing people together

Strong collaborations with local clinicians, scientists, and experts drive the way we work, ensure DNDi’s proximity to the needs of affected communities, and play a determining role in our ability to deliver the treatments patients need.

To consolidate and strengthen existing R&D capacity, promote scientific exchange, and facilitate access to new tools, DNDi works to foster collaborations among key actors in endemic countries, including health ministries, national disease control programmes, regulatory authorities, WHO, academia, and civil society groups, as well as clinicians and health professionals.

Initiatives to utilize and strengthen research capacities in low- and middle-income countries and support networks of excellence to sustain public-interest R&D are central to DNDi’s virtual R&D model. They are also critical to realizing our ultimate objective of fostering new innovation ecosystems – driven by scientific leaders in affected countries – that can fundamentally change how R&D in the public interest is realised and delivered.

Clinical research platforms

Since 2003, DNDi has supported the creation and maintenance of five regional clinical research platforms. These ‘knowledge hubs’ help to:

• identify and evaluate patients’ needs and R&D gaps
• strengthen and sustain clinical research capacity
• facilitate access to new treatments
• advocate for an enabling policy and regulatory environment for needs-driven R&D

Research and access consortiums

We also work in consortiums of research institutes, universities, not-for-profit organizations, and pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs and improve access to treatment.

Infrastructure improvement and training for world-class research

Conducting clinical trials for neglected diseases means that research must often be conducted in some of the most remote areas of the world, where there may be little infrastructure of any kind, let alone health infrastructure.

To ensure the success of our clinical research, DNDi works to address this challenge by improving health infrastructure through clinic and laboratory renovations, provision of essential equipment and supplies, and continuous training of health personnel, with over 8,800 people trained since 2010.

Our support also capitalizes on and reinforces existing clinical capacity to ensure clinical trials can be conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice and international ethical and scientific quality standards, no matter how remote or resource-limited the setting.

In 2023, 683 people were trained to support the clinical research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.