DNDi reports on 2021 developments and achievements

Responding to the urgent public health needs of the most vulnerable and ensuring its ‘experiment in innovation’ bears fruit depend entirely on the dedication, commitment, and resolve of its partners, supporters, and staff, said Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

The comment was made as DNDi released its 2021 Annual Report detailing recent advances towards realizing DNDi’s pledge to deliver 25 new treatments in our first 25 years – the core commitment of its 2021-2028 Strategic Plan.

In 2021, it advanced 50 projects in our research and development (R&D) portfolio, including multiple new chemical entities, delivered new treatments, and forged new alliances for innovation.

With five new chemical entities for leishmaniasis now advancing in clinical trials, DNDi’s teams and partners are making major strides towards long-term goal of developing all-new, all-oral drugs to dramatically improve treatment.

In July 2021, fexinidazole was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as the first all-oral treatment for both stage of R,b gambiense sleeping sickness, following earlier approval by regulatory authorities in Europe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. Now authorized for use in 10 of 13 countries with cases of T.b. gambiense sleeping sickness reported in the last five years, a majority of eligible patients are receiving the improved treatment.

Fexinidazole was developed in partnership with the National Sleeping Sickness Programs of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR), and French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN).

Ravidasvir, a new all-oral treatment for hepatitis C and the first to be developed through South-South collaboration, received conditional registration in Malaysia in June 2021, following results published in The Lancet that showed 97% of participants were cured with the sofosbuvir + ravidasvir combination.