Read highlights from our teams and partners in Latin America

Activity Report Latin America 2022

Português / Español

Read highlights from our teams and partners in Latin America

Activity Report Latin America 2021

Español / Português

• R&D: Completed BENDITA trial, which opens prospects of shorter and safer treatment for Chagas disease; completed a clinical study in Colombia and Peru to evaluate efficacy and safety of a treatment combination (miltefosine thermotherapy) for cutaneous leishmaniasis
• Access: Alongside Colombia’s Ministry of Health, the Chagas Access pilot project completed its third and final year, with positive results leading to similar access programmes being initiated in Guatemala, Brazil, and the USA
• Partnerships: Built a robust regional drug discovery platform with two Brazilian universities, USP and UNICAMP, for Chagas and visceral leishmaniasis; collaborated with the Andean Region Health Organization focusing on access to treatments for hepatitis C

Leishmaniasis

• Completed recruitment of clinical trial on cutaneous leishmaniasis combining thermotherapy with miltefosine in Colombia and Peru
• Completed an in vitro study to test the susceptibility of Leishmania infantum to the drug miltefosine
• Started a retrospective study to assess the effectiveness of amphotericin B for the treatment of HIV/VL-coinfected patients in Brazil, in collaboration with 7 public institutions, the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and PAHO/WHO
• Held a successful 5^th redeLEISH meeting in Rio de Janeiro with a focus on the harmonization of clinical trials for cutaneous leishmaniasis

Chagas

• Completed the BENDITA study of benznidazole to treat Chagas disease in three sites in Bolivia, leading to results in early 2019
• Completed recruitment for the Fexi 012 study of fexinidazole to treat Chagas in five sites in Spain
• Evaluated the impact of the Colombia Access Project for Chagas diagnosis and treatment and started new Chagas treatment access projects in Guatemala and Brazil
• Hosted a Chagas Platform meeting in Bolivia with a focus on research priorities and signatures for the Santa Cruz letter, calling on governments and international organizations to step up their efforts to eliminate Chagas as a public health problem

Hepatitis C

• Announced a collaboration between Insud Pharma, DNDi, and Pharco to enable access to ravidasvir, an affordable HCV treatment in Latin America

Advocacy

• Established official relations between DNDi and PAHO to strengthen efforts and collaboration on Chagas, leishmaniasis, hepatitis C, and innovation and access policies in the Region of the Americas

Antimicrobial resistance

• Supported GARDP‘s global observational study of newborns with sepsis

• Completion of recruitment in the clinical study of new regimens of benznidazole monotherapy and in combination with fosravuconazole in Bolivia for the treatment of Chagas disease
• Start of a Phase II clinical study in Spain to test short courses of fexinidazole for Chagas disease
• Implementation of a new, simplified diagnostic algorithm and treatment for all patients with Chagas disease, including chronic patients, as part of the pilot Chagas Access Programme in Colombia
• Start of a clinical study on cutaneous leishmaniasis combining thermotherapy with miltefosine in Colombia and Peru

• Pilot project for access and implementation of Chagas diagnosis and treatment launches in four regions of Colombia, to boost national response in partnership with MoH.
• Study results pave the way for treatment guidelines to change in Brazil, replacing Glucantime by AmBisome® as first-line VL treatment.
• UNASUR (Union of South American Nations) High-Level Meeting with Health Ministry representatives discusses access to HCV treatment with DNDi participation.
• DNDi Partners’ Meeting in Rio de Janeiro gathers 300 neglected disease R&D stakeholders to debate regional and global issues, such as innovative funding and emerging public health challenges.
• Newly-formed Social Movement against NTDs holds first meeting in Brazil, bringing together patients and public health actors in a new advocacy focused initiative.