Uniting to combat neglected tropical diseases: public-private partnership

Today, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other global health organisations announced a new, coordinated push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of the decade. Uniting efforts with NTD-endemic countries, partners pledged to [...]

Dengue – new site highlights disease information and research

Population growth, urbanization and rapid mass transportation have resulted in an explosive increase in dengue cases – from 1.2 million in 1998 to as many as 500 million annual cases today – and contributed to an ever growing number of countries and people at risk of infection. Dengue is now endemic in over 100 countries [...]

Key health issues of 2010: control of NTDs is possible

From the WHO’s photo story,  2010 in review:  key health issues. Control of neglected tropical diseases is feasible Neglected tropical diseases thrive in impoverished settings, where housing is substandard, environments are contaminated with filth, and disease-spreading insects and animals abound. The misery and disability caused by these diseases can now be substantially reduced according to [...]

WHO report on NTDs highlights ongoing commitment of pharmaceutical industry

An interesting article on neglected tropical diseases — and a recent report from the WHO — sourced from World Health Advocacy. First WHO report on NTDs highlights ongoing commitment of innovative drug companies The World Health Organization today released their first report on neglected tropical diseases – diseases that affect mainly poor people and cost billions [...]

New US legislation seeks R&D incentives for rare childhood diseases

New bipartisan legislation was introduced in the US Senate last week which seeks to encourage innovative R&D by drugmakers aimed at treating rare and neglected pediatric diseases. (source PharmaTimes) The Creating Hope Act of 2010 builds on existing law to increase incentives for the development of treatments for disabling and deadly diseases, with a focus [...]

Fighting neglected diseases: anti-TB compounds offer hope

Compounds being developed against tuberculosis also show promise against deadly tropical diseases threatening millions of people.  As reported by Reuters, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has granted the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) rights to develop a class of potential anti-TB compounds offering hope of treating Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness and [...]

63rd World Health Assembly – outcomes and resolutions

The 63rd World Health Assembly concluded at the end of last week, with delegates adopting proposed resolutions on a number of global health issues, including: Counterfeit medical products The World Health Assembly resolved that the WHO should convene an intergovernmental working group on counterfeit medical products, participation in which is to be open to all [...]

Ecuador eliminates river blindness

Ecuador has become the second country in the Americas to stop the transmission of river blindness (onchoceriasis), a disease that can cause blindness, skin rashes, lesions, intense itching and skin depigmentation. The parasitic disease is caused by the filarial worm and is spread by the bite of infected black flies. Major progress in combating the [...]

$10 billion commitment to vaccine research and delivery – Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that they will commit $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries (read more).  The Foundation estimates that increased vaccination could save more than 8 million children by 2020. “We must make this the decade of [...]

Pharmaceutical company opens access to malaria research and compounds

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has outlined a series of initiatives aimed at attacking neglected diseases and says that its experimental malaria vaccine is just a couple of years away from being approved. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to reveal previously confidential data on thousands of potential anti-malaria compounds. The company has 13,500 molecules which have been tested against [...]