UN knowledge-sharing scheme to combat neglected tropical diseases

More than 50 global companies have linked up with scientists all over the world to boost research on neglected tropical diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and river blindness under a UN-sponsored scheme.

The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Re:Search is an initiative that matches up holders of intellectual property resources such as pharmaceutical data, with researchers studying  conditions such as TB, leprosy, rabies and river blindness.

Two years after it was established, WIPO Re:Search now has over 50 partnerships and is leading to “new medical innovations that will help millions of people around the world,” said Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General.

GlaxoSmithKlline plc, for example, will provide researchers at India’s National Institute of Immunology with its Published Kinase Inhibitor Set 1 (PKIS) to better understand liver-stage malaria parasites. Meanwhile two other collaborators Sanofi SA and Pfizer Inc will work with researchers at Saint Louis University in the US to develop new treatments for diarrhoea.

To find out more, go to the UN News Centre website

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