Finding a Cure with Hit-and-Miss

Pfizer enters tropical disease drug partnership

The Associated Press, Business Week

Nov 18, 2009

Pfizer and Merck and Co. have both recently started a partnership with the nonprofit group Drugs for Neglected Diseases (DNDi) to try to find a treatment for Chagas disease. Pfizer agreed in November to give DNDi access to test 150,000 of their current drug candidates for effectiveness against the disease.

This again demonstrates the importance of non-profit groups in fostering and securing interest in treating Chagas disease. It also highlights how slow progress in treating Chagas disease is, since investigation of new drugs consists of a hit-or-miss strategy of testing thousands of existing compounds.

Not surprisingly, Pfizer has made a big deal of this partnership, presumably since it benefits their public image (not to say that it isn’t generous).

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9C20TV80.htm
Also read: http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=52715§ionid=