Institut Pasteur Korea to Screen Pfizer Compound Library in Collaboration with DNDi

Institut Pasteur Korea and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) have entered into a collaborative agreement, centered on the use of Pfizer’s compound library. This is for the identification and development of safe, effective and affordable treatments for diseases such as visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and Chagas’ disease.

These diseases, which are deadly if left untreated, affect people in poorer countries and generally fall outside the existing systems and market mechanisms of drug research and development.

The agreement brings together the knowledge and capabilities of each organization, which, in turn, will maximize the chances of identifying promising compounds to develop treatments in the future. In a project led by Dr Lucio Freitas Junior, the director of Institut Pasteur Korea’s Center for Neglected Diseases and with the funding of DNDi, several thousand of Pfizer’s chemical compounds will be tested in a proprietary screening process called PhenomicScreen. This is to search for compounds that are active against pathogens causing leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.