The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave a $21.3-million grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last week to develop drugs for two diseases that plague parts of the developing world.
Dr. Richard Tidwell, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at UNC's Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, will lead an international team of researchers in an effort to create the inexpensive drugs. The team will work to create treatments for the late stages of trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis.
"The latest funding by the Gates Foundation provides us a unique opportunity to bring about substantial and lasting therapies for these deadly neglected diseases," Tidwell said in a statement.
This is not the first grant the Gates Foundation has awarded to UNC to study the two diseases. In 2000 the university received $15 million to begin researching sleeping sickness and another $22.6 million in 2006 to test a drug that treats early stages of the illness.
This drug was the first in almost 50 years to be developed to fight sleeping sickness and is the first oral drug created for the disease, Tidwell said.
He added that he believes the Gates Foundation chose to give UNC its newest grant because of the university's prior success with the early-stage drug.
The first drug for sleeping sickness is effective and is now in the third of the four stages of clinical trials. Those ill with later-stage trypanosomiasis, however, have no effective and inexpensive treatment option as of now, Tidwell said.
"The drug is not optimal," he told The Chronicle. "We need something to treat the late stage of the disease-we will be doing essentially what a drug company does, but these diseases are well below their profit radar. It would be a charitable endeavor on the part of drug companies to develop a cure."
Sleeping sickness infects more than 300,000 people every year in sub-Saharan Africa, and leishmaniasis infects more than 500,000 people every year, mostly in South Asia and Brazil. Both diseases are caused by parasites spread by insect bites.
"Many of the world's most debilitating illnesses are virtually unheard of in the rich world, but they're a fact of life for millions of people in poor countries," said Tachi Yamada, president of the global health program at the Gates Foundation, in a Sept. 14 news release.
"We hope our investment in solutions for these problems will spur other donors, governments and researchers to take action, so that we can see the day when 'neglected' no longer applies to these diseases."
Symptoms of sleeping sickness begin with headaches, joint pains and fever.
Once the parasites cross the blood-brain barrier into the brain, the disease affects the sleeping cycle and other mental functions. If untreated, the disease can result in death.
Leishmaniasis first manifests itself in the form of skin sores that erupt anywhere from a few months to years after infection. The disease can then progress to damage the liver and spleen and cause anemia.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest charitable organization in the world. The foundation primarily focuses on world health issues and education.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.