BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Japan BCG, Astellas, Dainippon Sumitomo, Eisai, Merck KGaA, Aeras, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM),

March 24, 2014 7:00 AM UTC

The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) awarded $12.5 million as part of the second round of awards to four partnerships developing drugs and vaccines to treat schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, parasitic roundworms and tuberculosis. The awards include a $3.8 million grant to DNDi and Eisai to fund a Phase II trial to evaluate benznidazole in combination with Eisai's E1224, a prodrug of the antifungal ravuconazole, for Chagas disease. The initiative has a license to develop Eisai's E1224 under a 2009 deal (see BioCentury, Oct. 5, 2009).

GHIT awarded a $1.9 million grant to Top Institute Pharma, Merck, Astellas and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute to fund development and registration of a pediatric formulation of Merck's schistosomiasis drug Cesol praziquantel. GHIT said Cesol is recommended only for adults and children over the age of six and the partnership aims to create a formulation for babies and young children. ...