Two not-for-profit drug developers, TB Alliance and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), have created a product development partnership (PDP) in the form of a royalty-free licence agreement intended to drive development of new drugs for several neglected diseases. This is the first such licence between two nonprofit drug developers, they said in a joint press release, but they are hoping it could be a model for future collaboration. The TB Alliance granted DNDi the right to develop medicines based on its anti-TB nitroimidazole class of drugs. Nitroimidazole has shown signs of possible usefulness against several neglected diseases, including sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. Bernard Pécoul, executive director of DNDi, said the partnership “…demonstrates that there are innovative ways to share knowledge, to avoid duplication in research, thereby saving costs and speeding up the R&D process for the benefit of the patients.” More information can be found here: www.tballiance.org and www.dndi.org.
By Leslee Friedman for Intellectual Property Watch