Portfolio

Our aim is to develop much needed new treatments for Chagas disease and we are funded by UKRI MRC to develop new preclinical candidates targeting squalene synthase. 

Previously, in collaboration with GSK Global Health (Tres Cantos, Spain) we have developed two clinical candidates for visceral leishmaniasis, one of which our close partner DNDi is currently progressing through Phase 1 clinical trials.

We also develop new screening platforms for Chagas disease drug discovery, with a focus on assays that can predict a compound’s ability to achieve efficacy in animal models of chronic Chagas disease. We work closely with DNDi to identify new starting points for Chagas disease drug discovery.

Our TB portfolio is supported by the Gates Foundation and TB Drug Accelerator program since 2012. We collaborate closely with international TB biology experts and pharmaceutical companies to find new and improved treatments. Our lead programme has delivered a preclinical candidate in partnership with GSK with a further series in Lead Optimisation.

We also became an associated Partner in the European Innovative Medicines Initiative European Regimen Accelerator for Tuberculosis (ERA4TB) at its inception in 2020. This collaboration creates a world-class ‘platform’ that brings together the expertise, tools and resources needed to accelerate the development of anti-TB drug combinations.

Our portfolio focusing on delivering new drugs for malaria and cryptosporidiosis.

In a project funded by Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) we developed DDD498, a highly potent, oral, anti-malarial agent with the potential to be a single dose cure as well as block the transmission of the disease. This compound has completed first-in-human study and (blood-stage) volunteer infection study with MMV and Merck KGaA. The compound is now called Cabamiquine and is in Phase 2 clinical trials in combination with pyronaridine. 
 

Our projects expand from hit identification to pre-candidate selection. We lead the Structure Drug Discovery Coalition (SDDC). The SDDC aims to apply structure-based drug design to deliver Early Lead series for malaria and TB. We have a new target-based project with Novartis which aims to deliver an antimalarial with a novel mechanism of action ready to progress to more advanced toxicological studies. The goal will be to deliver a safer treatment that prevents “relapse” by targeting dormant parasites in the liver (hypnozoites) that are not sensitive to most currently available antimalarials. 

We are members of the Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA), a consortium of 18 different laboratories who have individually developed and maintained many of the platforms that contribute to early stage anti-malaria drug development including target discovery and validation.

The DDU was one of many organisation offered a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With support from Gates Foundation, we are an Associated Partner in the European Innovative Medicines Initiative - Corona Accelerated R&D in Europe (CARE).

We are working with partner organisations to deliver new drugs designed specifically to treat COVID-19 and other coronaviruses.

Invasive fungal diseases affect millions of people across the globe. We are leading a large, Wellcome-funded, drug discovery programme for new antifungals, in collaboration with GSK, the University of Dundee Mode of Action group and the University of Exeter Centre for Medical Mycology.

Our programme aims to identify novel, broad-spectrum mechanisms with an initial focus on developing new pre-clinical candidates for cryptococcal meningoencephalitis, a devastating disease that disproportionately affects people in sub-Saharan Africa.

The programme is currently in assay development and hit discovery phase.

The Innovative Targets portfolio (ITP) encompasses high quality projects in any therapeutic area where there is a clinical unmet need. We seek to identify novel therapeutic targets and mechanism of disease with the aim of developing new, innovative treatments for a broad range of diseases. The output from this portfolio is data packages that describe partially de-risked novel drug targets, plus pharmacological lead compounds with supporting data in an animal and/or tissue model of disease.

We select our targets from a wealth of world-class academic research globally. Core funding allows us to take on projects which are traditionally perceived to be risky or difficult due to the unpredictable tractability of many targets, especially complex cell-based mechanisms.