Enfermedades de la pobreza, enfermedades tropicales desatendidas

Las enfermedades tropicales desatendidas (ETDs) se caracterizan por su altísima incidencia en países de renta baja haciendo bueno el nefasto ciclo pobreza-enfermedad-pobreza. Las ETDs son ajenas al mundo occidental por lo que no son consideradas prioritarias, pero tampoco lo son para los gobiernos de los países endémicos al afectar a las poblaciones rurales sin voz política. Los escasos beneficios que proporcionan los medicamentos para estas enfermedades las hacen poco atractivas para la investigación farmacéutica. El esfuerzo hecho para sensibilizar los distintos sectores sociales públicos y privados ha cambiado la percepción general sobre estas enfermedades. La puesta en marcha de alianzas público-privadas ha permitido resultados muy significativos en los programas de control para prevenir un buen grupo de ETDs mediante la administración a gran escala de medicamentos orales. Otro grupo, con medicamentos poco eficaces y tóxicos, obliga a realizar programas de control selectivos y una buena dosis de investigación preclínica. Para ello se han creado alianzas público-privadas para el desarrollo de medicamentos (PDPs). La iniciativa de Medicamentos para Enfermedades Desatendidas (DNDi) ha sido capaz de desarrollar 6 nuevos medicamentos en seis años a un coste mucho menor que el convencional de la industria farmacéutica. El liderazgo de la OMS y el compromiso colectivo asumido en la Declaración de Londres de 2012 han llevado a un plan ambicioso para erradicar, eliminar o controlar 10 ETDs antes de 2020

Innovative public-private partnerships to maximize the delivery of anti-malarial medicines: lessons learned from the ASAQ Winthrop experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This case study describes how a public-private partnership initiated to develop a new anti-malarial combination, ASAQ Winthrop, has evolved over time to address issues posed by its effective deployment in the field.</p> <p>Case description</p> <p>In 2002, DND<it>i </it>created the FACT project to develop two fixed-dose combinations, artesunate-amodiaquine and artesunate-mefloquine, to meet the WHO anti-malarial treatment recommendations and international regulatory agencies approval standards. In 2002, Sanofi-aventis had started a development programme for a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine, to replace its co-blister combination. DND<it>i </it>and sanofi-aventis joined forces in 2004, with the objective of developing within the shortest possible time frame a non-patented, affordable and easy to use fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine adapted to the needs of patients, in particular, those of children. The partners developed Coarsucam^®/Artesunate Amodiaquine Winthrop^®("ASAQ Winthrop") which was prequalified by the WHO in 2008. Additional partnerships have since been established by DND<it>i </it>and sanofi-aventis to ensure: 1) the adoption of this new medicine by malaria-endemic countries, 2) its appropriate usage through a broad range of information tools, and 3) the monitoring of its safety and efficacy in the field through an innovative Risk Management Plan.</p> <p>Discussion and evaluation</p> <p>The partnership between DND<it>i </it>and sanofi-aventis has enabled the development and pre-qualification of ASAQ Winthrop in a short timeframe. As a result of the multiple collaborations established by the two partners, as of late 2010, ASAQ Winthrop was registered in 30 sub-Saharan African countries and in India, with over 80 million treatments distributed in 21 countries. To date, 10 clinical studies, involving 3432 patients with ASAQ Winthrop were completed to document efficacy and safety issues identified in the Risk Management Plan.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The speed at which ASAQ Winthrop was adopted in the field shows that this drug fits the needs of patients and health authorities. It also demonstrates the power of partnerships that combine different sets of strengths and skills, and that evolve to include additional actors to meet new global health challenges for poverty-related diseases.</p

Registering New Drugs for Low-Income Countries: The African Challenge

Mary Moran and colleagues discuss the best strategies for African regulators to be supported in their efforts to evaluate and approve drugs for their own populations

The BENEFIT Trial: Where Do We Go from Here?

In the next five years, we can now project that 200,000 people living with Chagas disease will die from heart disease and related complications. We urgently need to redouble our efforts to identify and treat young people who are still in the early stages of their illness, but ultimately we need to find better treatments and new cures

What is needed to combat NTDs?

<p>What is needed to combat NTDs?</p

Control strategies, challenges, research need and major recent advances for selected NTDs.

<p>Control strategies, challenges, research need and major recent advances for selected NTDs.</p