Treating infectious diarrhoeal disease

Novartis and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have formed an alliance to advance development of Novartis' drug candidate KDU731 for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis, says a press release.

Diarrhoeal diseases are one of the leading causes of childhood mortality globally, resulting in approximately 525,000 deaths each year and cryptosporidiosis is the second leading cause of infectious diarrhoea in children under 2 years of age1-2.

"There is an urgent medical need for new and effective therapeutics for cryptosporidiosis, particularly in vulnerable populations" said Dr. Paul Kelly University of Zambia School of Medicine and Tropical Gastroenterology at Barts & The London.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $6.5 million to support the development of this drug candidate for the treatment of children by the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD).

NITD is a Novartis research institute dedicated solely to the discovery and development of new medicines to treat malaria, cryptosporidiosis, and three major kinetoplastid diseases – human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), chagas disease and leishmaniasis.