Japanese companies and DNDi team up against neglected diseases

The Drugs For Neglected Diseases Initiative has joined forces with three Japanese and one UK-based multinational pharmaceutical companies to carry out collaborative research into neglected tropical diseases.

The four pharmaceutical companies—Eisai, Shionogi, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and AstraZeneca—and DNDi will focus on leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, both of which are problems in Africa

The Japanese partners will be supported by DNDi with €640,000 (US$700,000) from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, a collaboration between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Japanese government and six Japanese pharmaceutical companies.