"Developing Cures for Developing Countries"

The mission of the nonprofit Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development (CPDD) is to discover and develop new treatments for human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and visceral leishmaniasis. These diseases threaten nearly half the world's population and cause massive disability, death and economic loss.

 

The Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development or CPDD was organized in 2000 to fill a void in the discovery and development of new drugs for the treatment of specific neglected diseases. While the consortium was developed to work on most protozoan parasitic infections, it has mainly focused on trypansomiasis (human African sleeping sickness) and visceral leishmaniasis. The CPDD is comprised of an international team of scientists and clinicians from academic and non-profit private institutions. The team is structured to carry drugs from early lead optimization through clinical trials and registration. The CPDD actively seeks partners from industry and global institutions during the late phases of drug development, with the intent to maintain these relationships through drug registration and distribution. The CPDD has formed a number of collaborations that serve to maximize efficiency and prevent redundant research in the development of new treatments for these diseases. Two key collaborations are with the Trypanosome Drug Development Consortium (TDDC) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases (DNDi). The collaboration with the TDDC provides a link between the CPDD and an upstream drug development group (target selection and validation). A memorandum of understanding with DNDi allows the two organizations to share information on drugs research and discovery projects. This information flow serves to prevent costly redundancy between the two groups and enhances the knowledge base of both groups.

During the last year the CPDD has reached out to develop new partnerships through a granting program. This program will provide funds to individual investigators with promising new approaches to chemotherapy for the targeted diseases. The new grantees will receive funds for research in their laboratories but will also benefit from the Unmany resources provided by current CPDD members. This paradigm allows an efficient and harmonious distribution of research leading to the development of a number of new compound classes for these diseases.

The CPDD is the epitome of translational research by academic institutions. It is a proven paradigm that fills a vital need. This program provides the promise of cutting edge research leading to new therapies for a number of neglected diseases

- Richard R. Tidwell, PhD