DNDi Latin America pledges 2013 Carlos Slim Health Award to chagas disease

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) Latin America today announced that it will pledge the US $100,000 Carlos Slim Health Award to Chagas disease, the leading parasitic killer of the Americas.

"We are honoured to receive this award from the Carlos Slim Health Institute and we dedicate the prize to Chagas disease – the Americas urgently need a coordinated response and action plan to control this silent killer", said Eric Stobbaerts, Executive Director, DNDi Latin America. "We estimate that 99% of people infected with Chagas are not even receiving treatment in the Americas and this has to change", he added.

At a ceremony in Mexico City on April 11th, the Carlos Slim Health Institute will present the annual health award to DNDi in recognition of its 10 years of work and achievements in research and development (R&D) to deliver new treatments for neglected patients in Latin America. The award specifically recognizes DNDi's achievement in developing and delivering two new treatments in Latin America, one for Chagas disease and one for malaria.

PAHO estimates that globally 100 million people are at risk of contracting the parasite causing Chagas disease, and approximately 8 million are already infected, with 55,000 new cases each year. A key challenge is that most of these cases are never diagnosed or treated.

To fight this silent killer, DNDi has developed a smaller, child-friendly tablet of benznidazole, the main drug used to treat Chagas disease. DNDi has also established a robust portfolio of new drugs for Chagas, to improve patient treatment in the early chronic stage and prevent severe heart and gastro-intestinal damage.

The award for malaria is for ASMQ, a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and mefloquine, developed in partnership with Farmanguinhós, a public pharmaceutical laboratory in Brazil. Launched in 2008, ASMQ is the first new malaria treatment developed in Latin America, and is now available for use worldwide.

"To bring real breakthroughs to the most neglected patients, it is essential to bring together multiple partners from both the private and public sectors, to do everything from upstream laboratory research, to creating the medicines and conducting the clinical trials. The partners in Latin America have the capacity to work at all of these levels and have the added advantage of coming from a region where these diseases are endemic", said Dr Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director of DNDi.

Provided by Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative