Japanese Companies Attack Neglected Diseases

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Several Japanese drug companies have joined a new project to find medicines to treat two neglected parasitic diseases, Chagas and leishmaniasis.

Eisai Co., Shionogi & Co. and Takeda Pharmaceutical will join AstraZeneca, a London-based company, in opening their libraries of millions of chemical compounds to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, allowing researchers to look for chemicals that kill the parasites in infected cells.

The initiative, founded in 2003 by Doctors Without Borders and other partners, focuses on diseases that major drug and diagnostic companies have ignored because treatments promised little profit.

Source: New York Times (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
Tags
infectious diseases