Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Joining forces to fight neglected diseases

The Emory Institute for Drug Discovery (EIDD) is partnering with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to develop new drugs for neglected tropical diseases in the poorest countries. Emory is the first university to join GSK's new intellectual property pool, consisting of hundreds of patents and patent applications, scientific reports and analyses.

"We look forward to accessing and contributing to this knowledge pool, and to making significant progress in addressing these challenging and devastating diseases," said organic chemistry professor Dennis Liotta, director of the EIDD.

The 16 neglected diseases targeted by the new program are: tuberculosis, malaria, blinding trachoma, buruli ulcer, cholera, dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever, racunculiasis, fascioliasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminthiasis and yaws.

The EIDD formed in 2009, to build on Emory's strong history of drug discovery research, including the invention of drugs taken by more than 94 percent of the patients in the U.S. with HIV/AIDS and thousands more around the globe.

Read more about the new partnership.

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