Sanofi and DNDi agree new research collaboration

Sanofi is to partner with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) on the development of new treatments for tropical disease.

Under the terms of the three-year research collaboration, the company will be assisting in the creation of therapies for nine neglected tropical diseases that have been identified as priority targets by the World Health Organization.

These include three kinetoplastid diseases, such as leishmaniases and Chagas disease, as well as three types of helminth infection plus dracunculiasis, fascioliasis and schistosomiasis.

Treatments will be based on molecules drawn from Sanofi's libraries, with the results of the collaboration set to offer benefits to public sector bodies dedicated to combating these illnesses, as well as to the medical research community.

Dr Elias Zerhouni, president for global research and development at Sanofi, said: "In this new research collaboration with DNDi, we have taken a firm step towards greater flexibility in the sharing of knowledge to produce new medicines."

This comes after the company allied with the Medicines for Malaria Venture last month to conduct new research into malaria therapies.