DNDi is pleased to announce its 2026 Projects of the Year, recognizing outstanding progress in pre-clinical and clinical research conducted by DNDi teams and partners. Nominated by the DNDi Scientific Advisory Committee and selected by the DNDi Executive Board, the 2026 awards honour the teams behind two projects from among more than 40 in DNDi’s R&D portfolio.
Partners and staff collaborating on the two 2026 Projects of the Year were celebrated at a dedicated session of the 47th meeting of the DNDi Scientific Advisory Committee on 9 October.
‘From a broad-spectrum coronavirus inhibitor drug candidate driven by open science and designed for affordable global access, to the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls work that enabled the registration of a game-changing cure for sleeping sickness, the 2026 Projects of the Year show how collaborative R&D can carry bold ideas towards practical, equitable tools that support global health objectives,’ said Dr Laurent Fraisse, Research & Development Director, DNDi. ‘These two projects exemplify DNDi’s approach to R&D, showing that together, we can deliver medical innovations that save lives.’
2026 Project of the Year in pre-clinical research: ASAP-0017445 – Open science for an affordable, broad-spectrum coronavirus antiviral drug candidate
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for potent antiviral medicines that can be deployed rapidly and accessed equitably when new coronavirus threats emerge. ASAP-0017445 is the first coronavirus antiviral developed through crowdsourcing and open science, and the first with its origins including artificial intelligence. Currently being developed as a safe, affordable, globally accessible broad-spectrum oral antiviral, the molecule targets the coronavirus’ main protease (Mpro), which is essential for viral replication.
The project grew out of the COVID Moonshot, a crowdsourced collaboration launched in 2020, and the AI-driven Structure-enabled Antiviral Platform (ASAP) consortium. It was shaped by contributions from researchers around the world, with scientific data disclosed openly so that others could build on the work.
Following optimization to improve its potency and pharmacokinetic properties, ASAP-0017445 demonstrated promising broad-spectrum activity against SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV infections. DNDi teams and partners obtained an independent expert review of the compound through its nomination as a pre-clinical candidate in September 2025.
From the outset, the project has aimed to deliver a direct-to-generic, royalty-free medicine that could be manufactured affordably and made widely available. This access-led model seeks to avoid the inequities in antiviral availability seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and place a promising treatment option within reach before the next coronavirus emergency.
We are grateful to the COVID Moonshot and ASAP initiative partners whose open collaboration has advanced this work, including ApconiX, Centre for Medicines Discovery – University of Oxford, Charnwood Consulting, Diamond Light Source, Enamine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, MedChemica, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, PostEra, Stanford University School of Medicine, Thames Partners, and Weizmann Institute of Science.
Learn more about ASAP-0017445:
2026 Project of the Year in clinical research: Acoziborole – Excellence in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls supporting registration and delivery to patients
The chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) team of the acoziborole project played a key role in transforming a new molecular entity into a registered medicine and bringing a transformative treatment for sleeping sickness closer to patients. Acoziborole is the first single-dose oral treatment developed for both early- and advanced-stage Trypanosoma brucei gambiense sleeping sickness. Administered in a single day without the need for hospitalization, it offers a simpler treatment option that could help reach patients living in some of the most remote endemic areas.
DNDi and Sanofi worked closely as an integrated CMC team, combining complementary expertise across pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, quality, and regulatory CMC. Over the course of development, the joint team successfully navigated significant challenges, including major changes within the manufacturing network and the complexities of developing a new treatment for a neglected tropical disease – such as low volume, stability, and affordability. Through strong scientific leadership, quality risk management, and close collaboration, the team established robust manufacturing processes, a comprehensive control strategy, and the quality dossier needed to support registration. During regulatory review, the team also worked proactively to address questions. This helped secure a successful outcome and advance acoziborole towards patients.
These efforts enabled submission of a registration dossier to the European Medicines Agency through the EU-M4all procedure in 2025, followed by a positive CHMP opinion and approval in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2026 – paving the way for broad access in endemic countries.
This achievement represents far more than a regulatory milestone. It demonstrates how scientific excellence, manufacturing expertise, and effective collaboration can overcome complex pharmaceutical development challenges and help deliver innovation for patients affected by neglected diseases.
We recognize the contribution of the joint DNDi-Sanofi CMC team, whose commitment and expertise were instrumental in delivering the pharmaceutical development programme that supported registration of acoziborole. We also thank the trial participants and their communities, national sleeping sickness control programmes, researchers, clinical teams, health authorities, regulators, and partners whose collective efforts made this achievement possible.
Learn more about acoziborole:
