Press Releases

San Francisco Non-Profit Receives Funds from UK Government to Target Neglected Diseases

Nearly 8 million dollars will support the fight against neglected diseases

San Francisco, CA - April 7, 2010

The Institute for OneWorld Health (iOWH), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, working to fulfill the promise of medicine for the developing world, has received a grant from the Department for International Development (DfID) in the United Kingdom (UK) to help develop safe, effective and affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases. This funding was announced last week by the UK International Development Minister, Mike Foster.

OneWorld Health discovers, develops, and delivers treatments for diseases with high mortality and morbidity in the developing world, therefore interrupting vicious cycles of poverty caused by ill health.

“One in every six people on Earth suffers from one or more neglected and infectious diseases. With DFID as a top investor in international health research, we are grateful that this grant will enable us to continue to execute our strategic plan for the specific diseases of malaria, diarrhea and visceral leishmaniasis in endemic regions to improve availability of, access to, and uptake of essential medicines,” said Richard Chin, CEO of iOWH. “iOWH is working toward developing medicines that target neglected infectious diseases affecting the world’s poorest people.”

While funding from DfID will support all of OneWorld Health’s disease program areas, the focus will be on developing a new treatment for diarrhea, which is the second biggest child killer in the world, claiming the lives of 4,000 children every day. The world’s poorest countries are hit the hardest because of a lack of clean water, basic sanitation and effective treatment. People living in poverty often cannot afford treatment or may stop taking the medicine when their symptoms aren’t immediately alleviated.

DfID Minister, Mike Foster, said: “It is shocking that more children in developing countries die from diarrhea than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Many of these deaths could easily be prevented by a simple vaccination and access to clean water, safer sanitation and more effective treatment. The UK is putting child and maternal deaths at the very heart of our efforts to get the Millennium Development Goals back on track.”

The grant funds, ₤5,000,000 (approximately $7,616,033 US) from DfID given to the Institute for OneWorld Health will, in part, support the development of an innovative new drug that aims to shorten the duration of episodes of diarrhea. The drug being developed is intended to speed up the recovery time by reducing the amount of fluid loss, thereby decreasing the likelihood of death as a result of diarrhea.  This new drug will be used in conjunction with Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) and will also enhance the adoption of ORT.

About the Institute for OneWorld Health

The Institute for OneWorld Health, the first US nonprofit pharmaceutical company, develops safe, effective and affordable medicines for people with neglected diseases of the developing world. The Institute for OneWorld Health, headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) US corporation.  Media resources are available at http:// www.oneworldhealth.org/media/index.php/.

Read DFID’s press release.

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