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Home > Research and development

Drug Discovery

It all starts in the compound library

Home > Research and development

Drug Discovery

It all starts in the compound library

DNDi invests in bringing all-new treatments through the research and development (R&D) pipeline – both by repurposing or modifying drugs from other therapeutic areas and by identifying and developing entirely new chemical entities.

We work with partners around the world:

  • screening hundreds of thousands of compounds every year
  • evaluating promising ‘leads’, and
  • optimizing ‘leads’ into promising drug candidates  
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compounds screened to date
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of compounds screened were accessed free-of-charge through partnerships
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projects focused on identifying or developing new chemical entities
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Screening

DNDi accesses compounds either free of charge, through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, private and public research institutions, and product development partnerships, or by purchasing them from chemical vendors.

We rely on high-throughput screening to speed up the evaluation of these compound collections and select the most promising sets of molecules for screening. While most compound collections screened to date originate from chemical synthesis, DNDi has recently expanded its sourcing to natural products.

Since its establishment, DNDi has screened approximately:

  • 3 million compounds for activity against Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi parasites in pursuit of new treatments for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease
  • 1.5 million compounds for activity against Trypanosoma brucei in pursuit of new treatments for sleeping sickness

Open and collaborative drug discovery

DNDi is committed to exploring the potential contributions of open and collaborative science, in a bid to be accountable for our research working in the public interest. Science works through sharing and collaborating, and doing so can notably attract additional world-class researchers to a neglected field, enabling better results, faster and cheaper by reducing duplication.

 
Our advocacy work for open and collaborative R&D
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Drug discovery

Open Synthesis Network

Crowdsourcing R&D for neglected diseases. From Australia to Europe, India, Latin America, and the US, this global collaboration of students from over 20 participating institutions is working to explore data and design new compounds for DNDi to test for anti-parasitic activity.

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.

Translational research

COVID Moonshot

Open-science search for a globally accessible COVID-19 antiviral. COVID Moonshot is a worldwide, virtual, open science collaboration of more than 150 scientists who partnered to identify new molecules that could block SARS-CoV-2 infection – with the aim to deliver an affordable and accessible COVID-19 treatment.

Lead optimization consortia

We have established four consortia of research institutions that work on hit-to-lead and lead optimization activities. These act as virtual teams with access to global expertise in medicinal chemistry, as well as the compound collections of pharmaceutical and chemical companies and commercial vendors.

Lead optimization consortia play a critical role in DNDi’s efforts to bridge global research capacity to address the needs of neglected patients, and support drug discovery activities in disease-endemic regions. These consortia and similar collaborations with academic and pharmaceutical partners have so far delivered drug candidates for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, and river blindness.

Female researcher working in a lab

LOLA

Established in 2013, Lead Optimization Latin America activities focus identifying and developing new promising compounds for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Partners currently include University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and University of São Paulo (USP).

Lab material

LO-AUS

Partners in Australia have been working together with DNDi since 2006 on screening, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization activities for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Partners currently include Epichem, CDCO – Monash University, Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery at Griffith University, London School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, LMPH (University of Antwerp), and TCG Life Sciences.

Lab material

LO-US

Working in partnership since 2007, Lead Optimization US initially focused on sleeping sickness and now seeks ‘hits’ and leads for visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Partners currently include GSK, DDU – University of Dundee, Northeastern University, LMPH – University of Antwerp, and TCG Life Sciences.

Microscope

LOCI

Established in 2019, Lead Optimization Consortium in India aims to uncover potential new treatments for neglected diseases endemic to the country, with initial activities focused on discovery and optimization of new pre-clinical drug candidates for leishmaniasis. Partners currently include the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar and the Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy & Technology Management at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

Our drug discovery projects

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Drug discovery

ASAP-0017445 (Moonshot ASAP)

Drug discovery

Series-5824 (MT)

Drug discovery

Open Chagas

Drug discovery

AViDD ASAP

Drug discovery

AI-guided discovery

Drug discovery

TMEM16 series

Drug discovery

Nucleoside Booster

Drug discovery

UW series

Drug discovery

Pandemic Response Box

Drug discovery

MycetOS

Drug discovery

Screening Chagas disease

Drug discovery

Chagas Hit-to-lead

Drug discovery

Screening leishmaniasis

see all projects

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Press releases
23 Apr 2025

DNDi welcomes GHIT support for new project with three Japanese universities to find drug candidates for Chagas disease

Scientific articles
31 Mar 2025

Discovery and early optimization of 1H-indole-2-carboxamides with anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activity

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Lab activities
Press releases
18 Mar 2025

DNDi welcomes GHIT support for new collaboration with Shionogi to identify novel drug candidates for neglected Chagas disease

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Publications
17 Mar 2025

MycetOS factsheet

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