Sanofi S.A., a French multinational pharmaceutical firm, has reportedly renewed its partnership with WHO (World Health Organization), and has extended its 20-year-old joint venture. The company intends to support WHO by developing treatment options for sleeping sickness and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

For those uninitiated, NTDs are group of fungal, parasitic, bacterial, and viral diseases that pose a threat to about billion people, particularly affecting lives in remote rural area where health conditions are relatively poor.

Sources close to the matter stated that Sanofi, with this new 5-year agreement, will offer financial support of USD 5 million/year (total USD 25 million) to disease management, inclusive of drug donation, capacity building, disease awareness campaign, and screening of populations.

Paul Hudson, CEO at Sanofi, mentioned in a comment that the company has been working with WHO for over 20 years to fight against NTDs. He further added that Sanofi will contribute towards eliminating sleeping sickness, including advancing research & development for communities susceptible to the disease. 

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General at WHO, reportedly stated that their collaboration with Sanofi has had a positive impact in various economies, bringing sleeping sickness closer to elimination, and improving lives of marginalized populations.

Notably, the duo had entered a partnership in 2001 to support screening, regulation and treatment of a common Neglected Tropical Disease, sleeping sickness, that has adversely affected underserved populations of sub-Saharan African economies.

Over 40 million people have went through screening for sleeping sickness since 2001, and about 210,000 patients treated and saved, sources claimed. Sanofi and WHO have successfully decreased the number of cases by 97% in the past 20 years.

As a matter of fact, Fexinidazole, the first oral drug, developed in partnership with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), has helped in streamlining treatment of patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sources confirmed.

Source Credits –

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/15/2144970/0/en/Sanofi-renews-partnership-with-the-WHO-to-fight-Neglected-Tropical-Diseases-and-eliminate-sleeping-sickness-before-2030.html