November 2014
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A Note from Jennifer
Dear WIPO Re:Search Members and Friends, 

   


 

This month, WIPO held the 2014 WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting at Pfizer's headquarters in New York City. Representatives from 21 Members participated in the event, including researchers from the Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, and the University of Bamako. I presented BVGH's 2014 achievements - 37 new partnerships and 15 new Members - and our deliverables for 2015. A summary of our achievements and deliverables can be downloaded here. At the Meeting, BVGH and WIPO officially welcomed our newest pharmaceutical company Member, Merck KGaA, and confirmed ongoing support from our other founding pharmaceutical Members.


While in New York City, I attended the 27th International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) Assembly. This year's event, which convened global health leaders and government representatives, focused on how to meet the global demand of quality healthcare in a time of constrained resources.


BVGH team member, Ujwal Sheth, will be presenting WIPO Re:Search at the 2014 Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand next month. If you will be in attendance and would like to speak with Ujwal about collaboration opportunities, please send her an email.


I am pleased to welcome our two newest Members, Merck KGaA and the University of Ghana.


As always, please forward this Snapshot to your colleagues and reach out to us with any partnering requests or ideas. 


 

 

Sincerely,

 Jennifer Dent

President, BVGH 

 

noticeSpecial Announcement

Do you know someone at your institution doing neglected tropical disease, malaria, or tuberculosis research? If so, please forward our Snapshot along!

 

statsWIPO Re:Search Statistics


To view a current summary of the WIPO Re:Search agreements by disease and stage of development, click here.

Click here to view a complete list of WIPO Re:Search Members.

  


 

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Medicine, and Dr. Jesse Waggoner, Instructor of Medicine, at the Stanford University School of Medicine, are hosting Ms. Chika Celen Okangba, a doctoral student from the University of Lagos. Chika is a student of Dr. Wellington Oyibo, Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Chika will spend two months working with Drs. Pinsky and Waggoner screening samples from patients from Lagos, Nigeria that presented with undifferentiated febrile illness. Following the identification of the pathogens causing the febrile illnesses, Chika will develop a customized PCR-based diagnostic targeting the most common pathogens in Lagos. To learn more, click here.

Chika Okangba (University of Lagos) and Allison Rhines (Stanford University)

Three new partnerships were finalized last month, including:

 


 

Dr. Peter Brophy, Professor of Parasitology, Aberystwyth University, will provide Dr. Fidelis Cho-Ngwa, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, University of Buea, with Sigma class glutathione transferase (GST) inhibitors that had previously been shown to be active against Fasciola hepatica. Fidelis will screen these inhibitors against Onchocerca microfilariae and macrofilariae, as well as Loa loa microfilariae.


 


 


 

Emory University scientists will collaborate with scientists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) to measure the plasmablast response induced in human subjects following administration of two candidate dengue vaccines. Researchers will first vaccinate with a live-attenuated dengue vaccine and then "boost" with a purified inactivated dengue vaccine. WRAIR and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) co-developed both of these candidate vaccines.

 

 

memberNew Members Announcement

 

We are pleased to announce that the University of Ghana and Merck KGaA have joined WIPO Re:Search.


 

 
 
The University of Ghana is the oldest and largest public university in Ghana. The University is home to several departments with research of relevance to WIPO Re:Search including its Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Current research projects include studies of malaria pathogenesis and chemotherapy, population pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenetics.


 


 


 


 


 

Merck KGaA (known as EMD in the US and Canada) is a leading pharmaceutical, chemical, and life-science company, headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. Its biopharmaceuticals division focuses on transforming science into medical solutions for neurodegenerative diseases, fertility and metabolic endocrinology disorders, oncology, and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.

 

Merck KGaA has demonstrated its commitment to improving the health of underserved populations by enhancing availability, accessibility, and affordability of medical products. It has dedicated a part of its R&D efforts to finding solutions for unmet medical needs of the developing world, with a focus on NTDs, malaria, and diarrheal diseases. Merck KGaA is the co-developer of praziquantel, the gold-standard treatment for schistosomiasis. Since 2007 Merck KGaA has donated millions of praziquantel tablets to the WHO for treatment of African school-aged children. In 2012 Merck KGaA partnered with Astellas Pharma, Farmanguinhos, Simcyp, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), and TI Pharma to establish the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium. The mission of this consortium is to reformulate praziquantel for use in preschool-aged children.

 

Several Merck KGaA drugs are of relevance to WIPO Re:Search Members including its novel combination of pimasertib + PI3K inhibitor, which may be of use against parasitic diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, and human African trypanosomiasis. Its c-met kinase inhibitor and hypoxia-targeted drug may also be of use against parasitic diseases. Merck KGaA has developed vaccine and drug delivery systems, such as its easypod� automated drug delivery device and cool.click� 2 needle-free delivery device. Its phage-display technology can be of use to the development of antibodies for neglected disease diagnostics, while its overall expertise in pharmaceutical discovery and development will be beneficial to all aspects of WIPO Re:Search Members' neglected disease R&D. 
hubPartnership Hub Central

Roopa Ramamoorthi presented a poster describing WIPO Re:Search and its successes at this year's American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. During the conference Roopa met with representatives from WRAIR, GSK, Seattle BioMed, Novartis, and MSD*.
 
Roopa Ramamoorthi with Katherine Young (MSD)

Roopa also gave an oral presentation about WIPO Re:Search and moderated a panel discussion at the 1st Annual COST Action meeting in Calvi, France. The panel session, which featured representatives from GSK, Sanofi, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the University of Laval, focused on how industry and academia can collaborate, as well as the expertise each sector brings to a partnership.




*Known as Merck in the US and Canada
HCHighlighted Contributions  
 

Featured this month are two contributions submitted by the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD) (Chinese CDC) to the WIPO Re:Search Database.



 

Diagnostic Tests for Liver Flukes (ID: 2981)

Dr. Xue-nian Xu's group has developed the Cs1 rapid diagnostic immunochromatographic test strip to diagnose patients infected with Clonorchis sinensis (Chinese liver fluke), the causative agent of clonorchiasis. C. sinensis is transmitted to humans through consumption of undercooked, smoked, pickled, and salted freshwater fish. Dr Xu's group is also developing a kit to directly detect a C. sinensis antigen. This kit may be able to detect the liver fluke in uncooked fish. Dr. Xu is interested in collaborating with groups around these diagnostic tests.


Protein microarray for identifying biomarkers (ID: 2961)

Dr. Jun-Hu Chen and others have developed a protein microarray that can be used for identifying biomarkers for potential use in malaria parasite diagnostic and vaccine development.


For more information or to discuss potential collaborations regarding this technology, please contact Roopa Ramamoorthi.  

spotlightMember Spotlight
                                                
In early 2014, building upon the success of its Open Lab initiative in Tres Cantos, Spain, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) launched a similar Open Lab initiative focused on supporting research into non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa. The Africa NCD Open Lab aims to understand how and why NCDs manifest differently in Africa through high-quality epidemiological, genetic, and interventional research, while building local disease expertise in Africa. GSK launched its first call for Africa NCD Open Lab research proposals. Researchers from the C�te d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi are eligible to apply. For more information, click here.
newsWIPO Re:Search in the News

BVGH published an article, "WIPO Re:Search: Accelerating Anthelmintic Development Through Cross-sector Partnerships", in the International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance. This article features collaborations between Swiss TPH and the Eskitis Institute; the University of Buea and the University of British Columbia; and McGill University, AstraZeneca, and the Eskitis Institute. Three of the WIPO Re:Search capacity-building sabbaticals funded by the Australian government are also highlighted.
EventsTableUpcoming Global Health Events

Dates
Event Title
Location
Web Link
Dec. 2-4
Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting (JITMM 2014)
Bangkok, Thailand
Jan. 9, 2015
7th Annual Center for Emerging & Neglected Diseases (CEND) Symposium
Berkeley, CA
Jan. 22-27, 2015
Keystone Symposium: Host Response in Tuberculosis
Santa Fe, NM

Are you attending a global health event?
Do you have a Research Request to highlight in the Snapshot?

We want to hear from you! Please send feedback and suggestions via email.

WIPO Re:Search Pharmaceutical Members


*known as EMD in the US and Canada
**known as Merck in the US and Canada

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