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Friday 14 September 2007

More efforts on drugs for orphan diseases

A group of leading drug researchers today announced the formation of a non-profit international institute to channel top talent and drug candidates from the world’’s leading research labs into a major, new global assault on tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
Founders of the International Drug Discovery Institute (iDDi) (
www.i-ddi.org) hope to fill a gap in commercial drug development that has left large populations in developing nations exposed to epidemic diseases with no new or affordable cures. In effect, iDDi’’s innovative model seeks to skirt barriers that have hampered the development of new therapeutic agents for scourges like malaria or TB for the past 40 years.
""Through my long career in drug discovery, I have found it incredibly frustrating that every year, millions of human beings still perish from diseases that could and should be curable,"" said Dr. Alan Kozikowski, founder and chief science officer of iDDi. ""We know that the world’’s best scientific minds –– collaborating on promising, new drug candidates –– and empowered by new machine-based screening technologies, could launch a Manhattan-style project that would wipe these diseases from the face of the earth.""
Explained John McCall, an iDDi director and former vice president of drug development at Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., ""iDDi is the embodiment of this new approach to drug discovery and development. We will empower an innovative network of global scientific talent to break through organizational, national, and economic barriers to deliver new drugs more expeditiously to the people who need them.""
IDDi is being formed specifically to accelerate drug discovery and development for neglected and orphan diseases, and has already begun outreach to major philanthropic foundations with similar goals.
Its founders and collaborating scientists include research luminaries, such as Scott Franzblau, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Tuberculosis Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Geoff Dow, Ph.D. a malaria researcher at the U.S. Army’’s Institute at Walter Reed Army Hospital; and Paul Wender, Ph.D., of Stanford University.
In addition to its technical resources, iDDi is developing a novel operational model aimed at making practical and affordable medicines available to those in need. To this end, Mohsen Marefat of The Althing Group has been retained to head the development and management of business operations for the Institute.
To date, iDDi has been funded by donations from angel benefactors. The Institute plans to launch an aggressive fundraising campaign to attract foundation support.
About iDDi
iDDi is a non-profit institute that will accelerate and streamline drug discovery by harnessing the power of technology and the expertise of select scientists, worldwide, to identify and bring to market effective and practical therapies for diseases afflicting millions. For more information, please visit
www.i-ddi.org.

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