The Medicines for Neglected Diseases Initiative, a non-profit research organization that develops new treatments for patients from poor and vulnerable communities, has been awarded this Thursday with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.
Created in 2003, the organization (DNDi) was founded by Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization and five other institutions and since its inception has provided a dozen affordable and easy-to-administer treatments for six Serious diseases, especially prevalent in tropical countries.
With headquarters in Geneva and eight other offices throughout the world, the organization was directed by Bernard Pécoul from 2003 to 2022, the year in which he was replaced by Dr. Luis Pizarro, a Chilean-French doctor and expert in world health.
The network, made up of more than two hundred members in more than forty countries, focuses on pathologies such as river blindness or filariasis, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis, hepatitis C, malaria , cryptococcal meningitis, dengue, HIV, mycetoma and, in recent years, COVID-19.
Since its founding, the organization has advocated for public responsibility and the public policies necessary to address the medical needs of the most underserved patients. Its goal: "A global system for biomedical research and development (RD) that ensures that all people benefit from medical innovation and have access to the fruits of scientific progress."
The jury of the Princess of Asturias for International Cooperation 2023 has valued this Thursday his "ambitious" work in the development of numerous treatments for serious diseases.
More than a billion people from the world's poorest and most disadvantaged populations - half of them children - suffer from a set of diseases that cause serious social stigma and millions of deaths every year. They are diseases neglected by research, industry and commercial development.
In response to the problem, five public and private entities from Brazil, France, India, Kenya and Malaysia, together with two international organizations, launched this Initiative to discover and develop effective treatments, as well as make them accessible, affordable and adapted to the affected communities.
"In their twenty-year history, they have developed numerous treatments for these serious diseases. Their strategy includes an ambitious plan to develop new drugs and treatments that will improve health and save millions of lives around the world," the jury said in its minutes. .
Dr. Luis Pizarro, executive director of the DNDi, has thanked the award, which coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the organization. "Together with our partners, we have developed 12 new treatments for the world's most underserved populations and have shown that an alternative, not-for-profit model of pharmaceutical research and development can save millions of lives," he said.
Pizarro has been particularly proud of the successful research programs established with leading medical institutions in Spain and Latin America, "all essential partners in our work to discover and develop new drugs against devastating diseases, such as Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, which continue to cause enormous suffering of millions of people".
The jury for the 2023 Princess of Asturias Prize for International Cooperation was formed by Pedro Luis Alonso Fernández, Maite Arango García-Urtiaga, Eugenia Bieto Caubet, Francisco de Paula Bisbal Pons, Andrés Conde Solé, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil González, Pedro Duque Duque, Rodrigo García González, Charo Izquierdo Martínez, Íñigo Losada Rodríguez, Mònica Margarit Ribalta, Sophie Muller, Sami Naïr, Carmen Noguero Galilea, Juan Carlos del Olmo Castillejos, Ana Pastor Julián, Rafael Puyol Antolín, Isaac Querub Caro, Ignacio Villaverde Menéndez, chaired by Gustavo Suárez Pertierra and Manuel Toharia Cortés acting as secretary.
