• DNDi_Logo_No-Tagline_Full Colour
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • Pandemic preparedness
      • 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
      • 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
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
      • Podcasts, radio & TV
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
      • Our prizes and awards
      • Our story: 20 years of DNDi
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
  • DNDi_Logo_No-Tagline_Full Colour
  • Our work
    • Diseases
      • Sleeping sickness
      • Visceral leishmaniasis
      • Cutaneous leishmaniasis
      • Chagas disease
      • Filaria: river blindness
      • Mycetoma
      • Paediatric HIV
      • Cryptococcal meningitis
      • Hepatitis C
      • Dengue
      • Pandemic preparedness
      • 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
      • 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
  • News & resources
    • News & stories
      • News
      • Stories
      • Statements
      • Viewpoints
      • Social media
      • eNews Newsletter
    • Press
      • Press releases
      • In the media
      • Podcasts, radio & TV
    • Resources
      • Scientific articles
      • Our publications
      • Videos
    • Events
  • About us
    • About
      • Who we are
      • How we work
      • Our strategy
      • Our donors
      • Annual reports
      • Our prizes and awards
      • Our story: 20 years of DNDi
    • Our people
      • Our leadership
      • Our governance
      • Contact us
    • Work with us
      • Working at DNDi
      • Job opportunities
      • Requests for proposal
  • Donate
Home > Press releases

DNDi welcomes GHIT Fund’s renewed support to optimize novel compounds to treat Chagas disease

The two-year grant from Japan’s Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support the advancement of DNDi’s collaborative drug discovery project with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma to develop new, safer and more effective oral medicines for Chagas.

Home > Press releases

DNDi welcomes GHIT Fund’s renewed support to optimize novel compounds to treat Chagas disease

The two-year grant from Japan’s Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support the advancement of DNDi’s collaborative drug discovery project with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma to develop new, safer and more effective oral medicines for Chagas.

Lab equipment
Tokyo / Geneva — 9 May 2024
  • English
    • English
    • 日本語

Japan’s Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund awarded a two-year, JPY 294 million (approx. EUR 1.8 million) grant to the non-profit medical research organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and its partner Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), to continue their lead optimization work on a novel compound to treat Chagas disease, with the ultimate goal to deliver a new safe and effective medicine.

Chagas disease is a neglected parasitic disease that affects an estimated 6 million people worldwide and kills 12,000 people each year. It is endemic in Latin America and the southern US and is also present in Europe, Japan, and Australia. If not treated, Chagas disease can cause irreversible, life-threatening damage to the heart and other vital organs.

Current treatments for Chagas disease were developed half a century ago. While they show good efficacy, they need to be administered for eight weeks and can have serious and potentially toxic side effects. They also have not been proven effective in people with severe chronic symptoms. There is, therefore, an urgent need for new, safe and effective oral treatments for all Chagas patients that are also safe to use during pregnancy.

During the two years of this project, DNDi and MTPC will work to optimize a set of promising new lead compounds shown to have an effect against Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. The goal is to create pre-clinical development candidate compounds that meet the profile required for such compounds.

DNDi and MTPC have been collaborating on a drug discovery project for Chagas disease with the support of the GHIT Fund since September 2019. In April 2021, they initiated a hit-to-lead project that succeeded in creating a promising new lead compound. The project was awarded the About DNDi

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected people. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, advanced HIV disease, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health, gender equity and gender-responsive R&D, and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has joined with public and private partners across the globe to deliver 13 new treatments, saving millions of lives. 

Media contacts

In Tokyo
Yoko Noda
Mobile: +81 70 4465 5453
E-mail:
ynoda@dndi.org

In Geneva
Frédéric Ojardias 
Mobile: +41 79 431 62 16 
E-mail: fojardias@dndi.org

Photo credit: Xavier Vahed-DNDi

Partnership Drug discovery Funding Chagas disease

Read, watch, share

Loading...
Statements
27 May 2025

DNDi interventions at the 78th World Health Assembly

Press releases
22 May 2025

Six African nations commit to eliminate deadly neglected disease visceral leishmaniasis

Videos
20 May 2025

The Children of the Sierra

Press releases
13 May 2025

First all-oral treatment for a rare but deadly strain of sleeping sickness now available and being used to treat patients in endemic countries in Africa

Statements
8 May 2025

DNDi’s briefing note for 78th World Health Assembly

Marco Krieger
News
30 Apr 2025

Message on the passing of Dr Marco Aurélio Krieger, Vice-President of Production and Innovation in Health, Fiocruz

Screening activities in village in Guinea
News
25 Apr 2025

Statements from Dr Luis Pizarro and Daisuke Imoto about the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize awarded to DNDi

Two man outside of a hospital talking with a nurse
Press releases
24 Apr 2025

Liverpool clinical trial aims to advance life-changing treatment for a deadly parasitic disease

VIEW ALL

Help neglected patients

To date, we have delivered thirteen new treatments, saving millions of lives.

Our goal is to deliver 25 new treatments in our first 25 years. You can help us get there. 

GIVE NOW
Linkedin-in Instagram Twitter Facebook-f 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