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Profiles of local African organisations doing research

BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7519.758 (Published 29 September 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:758

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Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative - Africa

Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative – Africa

c/o Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)
P.O Box 20778
Nairobi 00202
Kenya
Tel: +254 20 272 6781/273 0076

Email: africadndi@nairobi.mimcom.net
Website: www.dndi.org

‘Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative – Africa’ or DNDi-Africa
situated at KEMRI, Nairobi, is one of the three regional liaison offices
for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative* (DNDi), a not-for-profit
drug development organization launched in 2003 that develops drugs for
people suffering from neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis, human
African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, and malaria.

One of the stated aims of DNDi is to use and strengthen capacity and
capability in neglected-disease endemic countries by collaborating closely
with scientists from developing countries. Africa-DNDi is the linchpin
that holds together and coordinates DNDi’s Africa-based drug development
projects, and brings together the region’s researchers and scientists in
disease-specific platforms.

DNDi-Africa has been instrumental in the formation of two platforms
to support clinical trial projects and strengthen research capacity:

1. The Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform (LEAP) is a group of 25
scientists from Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya;
Institute of Endemic Diseases, Khartoum, Sudan; and Faculty of Medicine,
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, as well as representatives of the Health
Ministries of the three countries, the World Health Organisation’s
Tropical Diseases Research (WHO-TDR), and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
LEAP aims to:

• Develop regional capacity for clinical research in Leishmaniasis so
that new treatments can be evaluated and introduced for patients

• Identify training needs and offer appropriate support, to improve
diagnosis and treatment for patients

• Rehabilitate trial sites/labs as needed.

LEAP supports a DNDi project to test the safety and efficacy of
paromomycin (PM) for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Africa in a multi-
centre trial to

• Register PM as a new treatment for VL in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya

• Include PM in the national policy treatment guideline in each
country, in this way ensuring that the Ministry of Health in each country
acknowledges VL and allocates funds for diagnosis and treatment.

The trial began in November 2004 in 5 sites in Sudan, Ethiopia and
Kenya. A third of the patients have been recruited.

2. The human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) Platform is a group of 35
scientists from Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo,
Sudan, Angola, as well as representatives of DNDi, WHO, Epicentre, STI,
Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Malteser and Merlin, Kari
Trypanosomiasis Research Centre, Find Diagnostics, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and Cooperation Technique Belgique. The aim is to
bring together scientific and technical expertise in clinical trials for
sleeping sickness so that new and promising interventions for this fatal
disease can be rapidly and effectively evaluated, registered, and made
available to patients.

The HAT platform supports a DNDi project to test the safety and
efficacy of a short course co-administration scheme of nifurtimox and
eflornithine as a new first-line treatment for stage 2 sleeping sickness.
The trial began in July 2005 in DRC and patients are currently being
recruited. Two other sites will be added to this multi-centre study.

* DNDi was founded by four publicly-funded research organisations –
Kenya Medical Research Institute, Indian Council of Medical Research,
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Brazil, Malaysian Ministry of Health; a private
research institute, the Institut Pasteur; an international research
organisation WHO’s Tropical Diseases Research programme; and Médecins Sans
Frontières. It is headquartered in Geneva (1 Place St Gervais, 1201
Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22 906 92 30)

By 2014, DNDi aims to develop 6-8 new, field-relevant treatments for
patients suffering from neglected diseases. Currently DNDi has 19 projects
in its portfolio, five of which are in late stages of clinical
development. If successful, the clinical development projects will yield
in the next 4 years:

o Two fixed-dose artesunate-based combinations to treat chloroquine-
resistant malaria – artesunate/amodiaquine and artesunate/mefloquine

o Paromomycin registered for visceral leishmaniasis in Africa

o A new co-administration therapy, nifurtimox/eflornithine, for
sleeping sickness.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

21 December 2005
Jaya Banerji
Communications Manager
Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative