Potential TB drugs to be investigated against neglected diseases

13 Jul 2010

Paul Chinnock

Source: Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) (see original article)
Source: Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (see original article)

Comments

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have announced a new programme intended to speed progress towards new treatments for several of the infectious diseases of poverty.

Both organizations are not-for-profit drug developers, but the TB Alliance focuses on tuberculosis whereas DNDi is concerned with a broader range of the infections that afflict the world’s poor, in particular human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease.

Now, the TB Alliance has granted rights to DNDi to develop a class of potential anti-TB compounds (the nitroimidazoles) that also show significant promise for treating other infections. The two groups describe the royalty-free licence agreement between them as “unique” and that it highlights the efficiency and synergy of organizations, such as themselves, which are described as product development partnerships. PDPs build partnerships between the public, private, academic, and philanthropic sectors to drive the development of new medical treatments, vaccines and diagnostics for underserved markets.

“Developing drugs to fight neglected diseases, like tuberculosis, is about restoring to the world’s poor one of the most fundamental human rights – their health,” said Dr Mel Spigelman, President and CEO, TB Alliance. “We are proud to join with DNDi to speed the development of compounds from our pipeline for new cures for multiple diseases, especially those affecting populations living in abject poverty. This agreement enables us to achieve a common goal and is a testament to the strength and efficiency of the product development partnership model.”

Nitroimidazoles

Under the agreement, the TB Alliance grants DNDi the rights to develop a series of compounds from the nitroimidazole class for use against many neglected tropical diseases, including visceral leishmaniasis, HAT or sleeping sickness, and Chagas disease. The TB Alliance will also share its scientific expertise and specific knowledge of the drug class, as gained through ongoing work with these compounds. The series of compounds covered by this agreement, designed and synthesized in collaboration with a medicinal chemistry group led by Professor William Denny at University of Auckland, is currently under development by the TB Alliance for its potential to yield new TB drug candidates.

“This agreement shows the unparalleled collaborative powers and efficiency of organizations like DNDi and the TB Alliance and the benefits of these approaches within neglected disease research and development,” said Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi. “The not-for-profit model demonstrates that there are innovative ways to share knowledge, to avoid duplication in research, thereby saving costs and speeding up the R&D process for the benefit of the patients.”

The nitroimidazole drug class is effective in tackling a broad spectrum of bacteria, protozoa, and occasionally helminths, many of the pathogens which cause neglected diseases. The TB Alliance has built a library of nitroimidazoles in pursuit of developing the class for TB. Now, to ensure and promote more rapid, meaningful advances in global health, the groups have established a partnership that allows DNDi to more thoroughly investigate the compounds for their potential utility in treating additional neglected diseases.

DNDi and the TB Alliance say that this inter-PDP agreement maximizes the benefits from the global health community’s investment in research and development, and may serve as a model for future collaborations. There are more than 140 active research programmes among the 18 major global health PDPs, so there are likely to be similar opportunities for programmes to work together.

Over the next year the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has granted DNDi US$1.5 million to conduct the preclinical assessment of this class of nitroimidazole compounds specifically for visceral leishmaniasis.