Merck & Co and DNDi collaborate to find treatments for world's most neglected tropical diseases

Merck & Co and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are to support the discovery and development of improved treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, which infect millions of people.

Merck will contribute small molecule assets and related intellectual property through a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to DNDi to develop drug candidates for these diseases. There is potential for the agreement to include multiple projects relevant to the spectrum of NTDs.

The companies will share joint intellectual property on drug candidates generated through early development. Merck will retain the option to undertake late clinical development and registration of drug candidates at its own expense or in partnership.

"We are excited by this collaboration as it represents the kind of sustainable, long-term commitment which helps us to address critical gaps in drug development for neglected diseases," said Dr Shing Chang, research and development director of DNDi.

"Merck has a long history of developing treatments for neglected diseases such as river blindness (onchocerciasis), and we are proud to collaborate with DNDi on this important initiative," added Mervyn Turner, chief strategy officer, at Merck & Co.

Both companies have a legacy of developing treatments that have had a global health impact. For example, with industrial partners, DNDi has made available two fixed-dose antimalarial medicines and Merck has developed ivermectin to assist in the fight against river blindness and lymphatic filariasis.

Of the 1,556 new drugs approved between 1975 and 2004, only 21 (1.3%) were specifically developed for NTDs, even though these diseases account for 11.4% of the global disease burden.