New treatments for diarrhoeal diseases now in prospect

18 May 2009

Paul Chinnock

Source: OneWorld Health (see original article)

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A not-for-profit pharmaceutical company, OneWorld Health, says it has moved closer to finding new treatments for diarrhoeal diseases. These neglected infections kill over two million children each year (see recent report featured on TropIKA.net).

In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded OneWorld Health $46 million – to conduct novel research on diarrhoeal disease and last year entered into a collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Roche. The two organizaions have now announced they have completed a screening of Roche’s vast compound library and will select up to 40 new drug leads for further study intended to identify a new treatment for childhood diarrhoea. OneWorld Health will follow-up on the potential new leads.

OneWorld Health is a member of a coalition of more than 75 organizations which has issued a call for action by the international community to stop needless deaths caused by diarrheal diseases.

OneWorld Health, the first US non-profit pharmaceutical company, is based in San Francisco. It aims to develop safe, effective and affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases in the developing world. In addition to diarrhoeal disease it is also currently active in seeking treatments for: malaria, visceral leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and soil-transmitted helminthiases.

See also a recent blog by OneWorld Health’s chief executive Richard Chin.