Moxidectin approval 'a milestone toward the river blindness endgame'

Australian not-for-profit biopharma company Medicines Development for Global Health (MDGH) has triumphed in its partnership with the World Health Organization Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of moxidectin for river blindness.

River blindness, formally known as onchocerciasis, is caused by the parasitic worm onchocerca volvulus and is transmitted from person to person by black flies that breed in fast-flowing rivers in sub-Saharan Africa, Yemen and small foci in South and Central America.

Nearly 200 million people are at risk for river blindness, and more than 99% of people infected live in sub-Saharan Africa.