Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is an international, not-for-profit research and development organization. We discover, develop, and deliver treatments for neglected patients around the world. Our treatments are affordable and patient-friendly – and have already saved millions of lives. We are researching new treatments for people living with Chagas disease, sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), leishmaniasis, filarial infections, mycetoma, paediatric HIV, hepatitis C, and dengue. Together with our partners, we are working on over 40 projects, including more than 20 new chemical entities. We are also running over 20 clinical trials. When the medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, they dedicated a portion of the award to addressing this fatal imbalance and exploring a new, alternative, not-for-profit model for developing drugs for neglected patients. As a result in 2003, MSF, the World Health Organization, and five international research institutions founded DNDi.www.dndi.org
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Search complete. 2 mentions across 2 episodes found for "Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative".
Oct 13, 2026
Lawrence MendyGUEST
Another major resurgence occurred in the 1990s, with over 37,000 reported cases in 1998 alone, and estimated two cases reaching 10 times higher due to an unmonitored rural foci.
Katie RocheGUEST
That resurgence in the late 1990s was staggering, but over the last 25 years, sustained mobile team surveillance, rapid diagnostic screening, vector control, and international partnerships like the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative have brought reported cases down below 1,000 annually since 2018.
Katie RocheGUEST
Lawrence, what are the current elimination targets established by the World Health Organization?
Lawrence MendyGUEST
Well, the World Health Organization roadmap for neglected tropical diseases targets the complete elimination of transmission for trypanosomal bruiser gambiancy by 2030, meaning zero human cases, and the elimination of trypanosomal bruiser rodiancy as a public health problem by the same date.
Demis HassabisGUEST
Um, and it's, uh, it means that they...
Demis HassabisGUEST
And what was great, what we did actually in the early days of seeding some collaborations, what you could do with AlphaFold, we worked with, uh, the DNDi, Drugs for Neglected Disease, part of the WHO in, in, in Switzerland, which work on diseases in the poorer places of the world that have, don't have good health n- as good healthcare systems.
Demis HassabisGUEST
And some of those diseases are neglected, as you know, because, um, the ph- big pharma can't make money by, by, by, you know, uh, uh, in those markets.
Demis HassabisGUEST
So then the diseases that affect primarily those, those areas of the regions of the world, um, don't get as much research, uh, uh, resources behind them.