Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases opens in Singapore
Swiss company Novartis has opened a unique non-profit initiative in drug discovery for neglected diseases, the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), in Singapore's new Biopolis research facility.
Swiss company Novartis has opened a unique non-profit initiative in drug discovery for neglected diseases, the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), in Singapore's new Biopolis research facility.
The Institute is focused on advanced biomedical research for neglected diseases, initially dengue fever and drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Today, more than one-third of the world's population is infected with TB and more than two million people die each year. In addition, 2.5 billion people worldwide are at risk from dengue fever.
The NITD is a public-private partnership between Novartis and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). The scope of activities ranges from target discovery and screen development, to compound optimisation, resulting in potential treatments ready for clinical testing. The Institute's goals are to have at least two compounds in clinical trials by 2008 and two novel and attractive compounds available to patients by 2013. Novartis intends to make these treatments available without profit for countries where these diseases are endemic.
The Biopolis research complex is a 2 million ft2 integrated biomedical research that opened in October 2003. Its scientific facilities include nuclear magnetic resonance and DNA sequencing, and it hosts all Sin-gapore's biomedical research bodies: the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), the Genome In-stitute of Singapore (GIS), the Bioprocessing Technol-ogy Institute (BTI), the Bioinformatics Institute (BII) and the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
'The NITD is a unique research institute dedicated to reducing the affliction of tropical diseases through the application of Novartis' leading edge drug discovery skills,' said Professor Paul Herrling, chairman of the board of the NITD, and head of corporate research at Novartis. 'The NITD is simultaneously educating young scientists, and helping people in the developing world learn how to continue to address these problems in their own countries. We want this institute to stand as a role model for public-private partnerships in South East Asia.'