Screening Chagas disease
Deliver a robust portfolio of early hits and lead series to enable drug discovery for Chagas disease
current phase of drug development




updated 15 Feb 2023
To identify new hit series that could be progressed and become new drug candidates for Chagas disease, DNDi tests chemical compounds for in vitro activity against T. cruzi. Collections of natural and synthetic compounds are typically accessed from partners and commercial suppliers, and high-throughput screening is conducted in collaboration with University of Dundee and Institut Pasteur Korea.
In 2015, to complement bilateral collaborations for screening and lead optimization, DNDi launched the NTD Drug Discovery Booster with several major pharmaceutical companies. The NTD Drug Discovery Booster continued until 2019, when screening activities were placed on hold to focus efforts on transitioning existing hit series into lead optimization projects.
Project updates
2022
DNDi maintained a similar screening strategy over 2022 to identify new T. cruzi active hit series. Recently, Nagasaki University has developed high-throughput screening capacity against T. cruzi, with DNDi providing technical advisory support. This additional screening capacity will primarily be used to access and screen compound collections available from partners in Japan, with a focus on natural products.
2021
Several new collections originating from pharmaceutical companies, not-for-profit organizations, research partners, and commercial providers were identified, contractually and physically accessed, and screened at Institut Pasteur Korea and University of Dundee. The emphasis has been on chemical novelty, notably through screening collections of natural origin and careful in silico examination of the chemical content of the libraries where possible.
2020
Several new collections originating from pharmaceutical and research partners were identified, contractually and physically accessed, and screened. Discussions continued with various pharmaceutical companies, not-for-profit organisations, and other entities to obtain access to new collections to keep building our screening pipeline. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed the activities of almost all our screening partners from mid-March 2020 through the end of the year.
2019
To identify new hit series that could be progressed and become new drug candidates for Chagas disease, DNDi tests chemical compounds for activity against Trypanosoma cruzi. High-throughput screening of compounds from natural product and synthetic compound collections from partners or commercial suppliers have been conducted, and hits have been identified and are currently being progressed.
2017
More than 20 novel series were identified in 2017 and are currently being progressed.
- AbbVie, USA
- Anacor Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer Inc.), USA
- Astellas Pharma Inc., Japan
- AstraZeneca, Sweden
- Atomwise, Inc., USA
- Bayer Healthcare AG, Germany
- Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany
- Bristol-Myers Squibb, USA
- Broad Institute, M.I.T and Harvard, USA
- Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb Inc.), USA
- Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM), Brazil
- Daiichi Sankyo, Japan
- Daiichi Sankyo RD Novare Co., Ltd., Japan
- DeepMind, UK
- E.I du Pont de Nemours, USA
- Eisai Co., Ltd., Japan
- Fundación MEDINA, Spain
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Spain, Spain
- Griffith University, Australia
- Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK), Republic of Korea
- Institute of Microbial Chemistry, Japan
- Johnson & Johnson, USA
- Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences, Japan
- Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), Switzerland
- Merck, USA
- Merck KGaA, Germany
- Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation Group, Japan
- Nagasaki University, Japan
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, UK
- Pfizer Inc. (formerly Anacor Pharmaceuticals), USA
- Sanofi, France
- Sequella Inc., USA
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland
- TB Alliance, USA
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Japan
- Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil
- University of Antwerp, Laboratory of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Hygiene (LMPH), Belgium
- University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
- University of Dundee, Drug Discovery Unit, UK
- University of Sussex (UNISU), United Kingdom
- Université de Genève, Switzerland
- WHO-TDR, Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Switzerland
- Walter Reed Army Institute, USA
- World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland
- Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health), USA
- AbbVie
- ,USA
- Anacor Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer Inc.)
- ,USA
- Astellas Pharma Inc.
- ,Japan
- AstraZeneca
- ,Sweden
- Atomwise, Inc.
- ,USA
- Bayer Healthcare AG
- ,Germany
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- ,Germany
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- ,USA
- Broad Institute, M.I.T and Harvard
- ,USA
- Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb Inc.)
- ,USA
- Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM)
- ,Brazil
- Daiichi Sankyo
- ,Japan
- Daiichi Sankyo RD Novare Co., Ltd.
- ,Japan
- DeepMind
- ,UK
- E.I du Pont de Nemours
- ,USA
- Eisai Co., Ltd.
- ,Japan
- Fundación MEDINA
- ,Spain
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Spain
- ,Spain
- Griffith University
- ,Australia
- Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK)
- ,Republic of Korea
- Institute of Microbial Chemistry
- ,Japan
- Johnson & Johnson
- ,USA
- Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences
- ,Japan
- Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
- ,Switzerland
- Merck
- ,USA
- Merck KGaA
- ,Germany
- Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation Group
- ,Japan
- Nagasaki University
- ,Japan
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
- ,Japan
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research
- ,UK
- Pfizer Inc. (formerly Anacor Pharmaceuticals)
- ,USA
- Sanofi
- ,France
- Sequella Inc.
- ,USA
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
- ,Switzerland
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
- ,Japan
- TB Alliance
- ,USA
- Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
- ,Brazil
- Université de Genève
- ,Switzerland
- University of Antwerp, Laboratory of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Hygiene (LMPH)
- ,Belgium
- University of Cape Town (UCT)
- ,South Africa
- University of Dundee, Drug Discovery Unit
- ,UK
- University of Sussex (UNISU)
- ,United Kingdom
- Walter Reed Army Institute
- ,USA
- WHO-TDR, Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases
- ,Switzerland
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- ,Switzerland
- Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health)
- ,USA
- AbbVie, USA
- AstraZeneca, Sweden
- Bayer Healthcare AG, Germany
- Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany
- Bristol-Myers Squibb, USA
- Broad Institute, M.I.T and Harvard, USA
- Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb Inc.), USA
- Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM), Brazil
- Daiichi Sankyo, Japan
- Daiichi Sankyo RD Novare Co., Ltd., Japan
- University of Dundee, Drug Discovery Unit, UK
- E.I du Pont de Nemours, USA
- Eisai Co., Ltd., Japan
- Griffith University, Australia
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Spain, Spain
- Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK), Republic of Korea
- Institute of Microbial Chemistry, Japan
- Johnson & Johnson, USA
- Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences, Japan
- University of Antwerp, Laboratory of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Hygiene (LMPH), Belgium
- Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), Switzerland
- Merck, USA
- Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation Group, Japan
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, UK
- Pfizer Inc. (formerly Anacor Pharmaceuticals), USA
- Sanofi, France
- WHO-TDR, Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Switzerland
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Japan
- TB Alliance, USA
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland
- Sequella Inc., USA
- University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
- Walter Reed Army Institute, USA
- Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health), USA
- Merck KGaA, Germany
- Atomwise, Inc., USA
- DeepMind, UK
- Fundación MEDINA, Spain
- University of Sussex (UNISU), United Kingdom
- Université de Genève, Switzerland
- World Health Organization (WHO), Switzerland
- Nagasaki University, Japan
- Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil
- Astellas Pharma Inc., Japan
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
- Anacor Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer Inc.), USA
- France - Ministry For Europe and Foreign Affairs
- Germany - German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through KfW
- Japan - Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund)
- Spain - Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)
- Switzerland - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- UK - UK aid
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Médecins Sans Frontières International
- Other private foundations and individuals
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