SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OneWorld Health (OWH) announced that it will participate in a major consortium project aimed to boost strategies for control and eventual elimination of visceral leishmaniasis (VL or kala-azar) in India and Bangladesh, where the disease burden is among the world’s highest. OneWorld Health received 1.9 million USD as part of a larger grant for the project led by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). Also collaborating in this consortium is the Special Programme for Research Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). The four-year long initiative aims to establish and implement new treatment modalities to advance kala-azar elimination in South Asia’s most endemic regions.
Within this ambitious, multi-faceted project, OneWorld Health will investigate the use of combination therapies with miltefosine, paromomycin and AmBisome® in the private sector in India to control and support VL elimination. Upon completing the study, a feasibility report will be published, which will include recommendations for the private sector engagement using new treatment modalities.
“We are pleased to be involved in this important project for the control and eventual elimination of visceral leishmaniasis, a devastating disease, in South Asia,” commented Dr. Richard Chin, Chief Executive Officer of OWH. “We look forward to working together with our partners, and leveraging our expertise in visceral leishmaniasis to contribute to the mission of the consortium and deliver impact full results to a great number of people in need.”
About kala-azar (VL)
Kala-azar, or VL, is a potentially fatal infectious disease that is transmitted through the bite of a sandfly and affects visceral organs (e.g., enlargement of spleen and liver), causing chronic fever, weight loss and anemia. VL is endemic in 65 countries, primarily in the developing world, and the population at risk is estimated at 200 million. The disease often strikes impoverished populations living in rural villages that may not be able to afford the treatments currently available. If left untreated, VL is nearly always fatal.
OneWorld Health previously developed Paromomycin Intramuscular Injection (PMIM) as an effective, inexpensive and safe treatment for VL, and worked with the Indian Government and Indian pharmaceutical company Gland Pharma to manufacture and distribute the treatment. PMIM received regulatory approval by the Drug Controller General in India, was designated for the WHO’s Model List of Essential Medicines, and was included in Essential Drug Lists of Nepal and Bangladesh.
About Collaboration Project
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), together with OneWorld Health (OWH) and TDR(the Special Programme for Research Training in Tropical Diseases co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank and WHO), will implement this multi-faceted project with local, regional and international participants. The project aims at establishing and implementing new treatment modalities as successful tools to support the elimination of VL in South Asia’s most endemic regions. The four-year international consortium, established in October 2011, will generate the data necessary for Indian and Bangladeshi Ministries of Health to select, adopt and implement the best case management strategies to boost control and elimination of this deadly disease. For more information, please visit: http://www.oneworldhealth.org/kala-azar.