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Diseases of the developing world

We have been involved in research into diseases of the developing world for many years. Our objective is to discover, develop and make available new drugs and vaccines for treatment or prevention of diseases of the developing world, primarily the World Health Organization's (WHO) three priority diseases: malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. In fact, we believe we are the only pharmaceutical company researching both medicines and vaccines for the WHO's top priority diseases.

We also look for new treatments for other neglected diseases, typically in collaboration with external partners. For example, we engage in ongoing drug development programmes in leishmaniasis (sitamaquine) and helminths (oxybendazone).

We have approximately 19 pharmaceutical R&D projects targeting diseases largely limited to the developing world, in addition to our vaccine projects. The progress of these medicines and vaccines in development is regularly reported in our product pipeline.

Public/private partnerships

We believe that a public/private partnership approach to drug discovery and development in diseases of the developing world is vital. We currently work in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, Medicine Malaria Venture, Global Alliance on TB and many others.

Companies provide to the partnership technology in which they have invested for decades and their discovery, development and distribution expertise. The public sector partners help fund the development costs while also ensuring that the medicines and vaccines get to the people who need them. This has the double benefit of encouraging R&D and accelerating the product's use in the developing world.

Our R&D activities

We have a dedicated drug discovery unit in Tres Cantos, Spain which leads drug discovery initiatives in malaria and tuberculosis. The dedication of an entire research unit to these diseases allows the concentration of resource and activity in the area and maximises our efficiency in making available new medicines and vaccines.

The unit at Tres Cantos employs 50 dedicated full-time scientific staff, whose skills include chemistry, biology, biochemistry, toxicology, cytotoxicology, assay development, and in vivo and in vitro screening - basically all the skill sets needed to assess disease targets and find drug candidates for further development.

The Metabolic and Viral Diseases Centre of Excellence in Drug Discovery based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, leads the effort in discovering new HIV/AIDS therapies.

Our Biologicals (vaccines) facility in Rixensart, Belgium is involved in the discovery and development of vaccines including a malaria vaccine, a TB vaccine and an HIV vaccine.

Once a drug candidate has been identified, clinical development is continued at the most appropriate place in the global R&D network, depending upon the requirements of the particular development program.

Use of our wider network for clinical development capitalises upon the advantages of scale offered by the R&D organisation and gives access to vital clinical expertise, external collaborations and networks. For example, many clinical trials are conducted in developing countries, because that is where the patients and local healthcare professionals with relevant clinical expertise reside.

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