Institut Pasteur Korea to Screen Pfizer Compound Library in Collaboration with Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
- Advancing research and development in medicines for neglected diseases

December 7, 2009, Seoul, S. Korea - Institut Pasteur Korea (www.ip-korea.org ) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi, www.dndi.org) have entered into a Collaborative Agreement, centered on the use of Pfizer’s compound library, for the identification and development of safe, effective and affordable new treatments for patients suffering from neglected diseases such as visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and Chagas’ disease. These diseases, which are deadly if left untreated, affect people in poorer countries and generally fall outside the existing systems and market mechanisms of drug research and development.
The agreement brings together the knowledge and capabilities of each organization, which, in turn, will maximize the chances of identifying promising compounds to develop new treatments in the future. In a project led by Dr. Lucio Freitas Junior, the director of Institut Pasteur Korea’s Center for Neglected Diseases and with the funding of DNDi, tens of thousands of Pfizer’s chemical compounds will be tested in a proprietary screening process called PhenomicScreen™ to search for compounds active against pathogens causing leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. PhenomicScreen™ is a sophisticated high throughput and high content visual screening method for the accelerated drug discovery. This approach has been adapted for the identification of new compounds that target the VL and Chagas.
Worldwide around 500,000 people are infected by VL every year and eight million people are infected with by Chagas. Medicines currently available are ineffective, old and often toxic. Through this partnership, Institut Pasteur Korea and DNDi aim to bring new hope to the millions of individuals afflicted by these diseases. Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea said, “The Pasteurian mission has always been a deeply humanistic endeavor. Helped by its cutting edge technological capabilities, Institut Pasteur Korea is now ideally positioned to take on neglected diseases in partnership with leading drug R&D players.”
“With this we can explore compounds that have never been tested for kinetoplastid diseases. This marks an important step towards DNDi’s objective of building a robust portfolio and to feed the research and development pipeline with innovative promising compounds,” said Dr. Shing Chang, R&D director at DNDi.