Drug development for Neglected Tropical Diseases

In this video, Eric Nébié explores the challenges and successes of Neglected Tropical Diseases drug development, including treatment for Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a set of twenty health conditions identified by the World Health Organization that disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Drug development for these conditions is of less interest to the pharmaceutical industry as the market is not huge.

However, recent success stories in the development of an innovative oral treatment for the potentially fatal Human African Trypanosomiasis reveals that a new era of NTDs’ drug development could have begun. Product Development Partnerships, international organisations, national authorities and pharmaceutical companies successfully collaborated to develop the efficient oral treatment Fexinidazole. Under the umbrella of a Product Development Partnership, this success story of Fexinidazole revealed that research and development costs and broad access to treatment are possible. Could these Product Development Partnerships be the way forward for rare diseases’ drug development?