Ep 5 - A Leap of Faith

No existing medicine can defeat dengue. It’s one of the top ten threats to global public health, and as the effects of global warming begin to bite, the stage is set for its spread outward from the tropics. This looks like a job for medicine makers without borders, doesn’t it? Here to walk us through DNDi’s opening gambit against this neglected, climate-sensitive disease are Panisadee Avirutnan of Mahidol University and the DNDi’s own Isebela Ribeiro. Is there an open source path to victory here? Can the nonprofit model stop dengue in its tracks?

Panisadee Avirutnan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Isabela Ribeiro is the Director of DNDi’s Viral Diseases Cluster.

Mentioned in the episode

the rise of dengue in Southeast Asia
South-South leadership and cooperation
the four serotypes of dengue

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at 
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

In our penultimate episode we are looking at the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, also known as LEAP. Here to talk me through this interconnected, collaborative network are two LEAP members who first met as colleagues and later became firm friends; Ahmed Musa of Khartoum University and Simon Bolo of DNDi Africa. This was a fascinating discussion that it on many of seriou hurdles faced by medical professionals working in the region.

Ahmed Musa is Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Endemic Diseases in the University of Khartoum.

Simon Bolo is Regional Operations Leader for DNDi Africa. He can be found on Twitter at @BoloSimon.

Mentioned in the episode

• Leishmaniasis  - a parasitic disease
• the nomadic peoples of East Africa
• the problem of brain drain

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

In episode four, as we continue our focus on the digital, we look to DNDi’s use of the next-gen digital projects in open science. This one’s a bit of a two-parter. In our first interview we’ll be talking to Pushmeet Kohli of a very high profile DNDi partner: Google’s DeepMind. Then I’ll be talking to Alpha Lee of the University of Cambridge about his role in the COVID Moonshot. Also joining us (for a second time!) is the DNDi’s own Ben Perry!

Pushmeet Kohli is Head of Research in AI for Science, Reliable and Trustworthy AI at DeepMind. He can be found on twitter at @pushmeet

Alpha Lee a Winton Advanced Fellow and Royal Society University Research Fellow (from Sept 2020) in the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge. His research group lives online at alpha-lee.com

Ben Perry is the Discovery Open Innovation Leader for DNDi. He can be found on twitter at @MrBenGP

Mentioned in the episode

• AlphaFold - DeepMind’s protein discovery AI
• the COVID Moonshot - Alpha’s open science mission
• the Human Genome Project - a classic example of open science

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at 
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

As the series nears its midway point, we are going open source. First we’ll talk to Ben Perry and Andrea Vernall about DNDi’s Open Synthesis Network for drug discovery, and then we’ll venture into the academy to speak with one of the students contributing to the Network. Information wants to be free, man, so hit play and learn a thing or two!

Ben Perry is the Discovery Open Innovation Leader for DNDi. He can be found on twitter at @MrBenGP

Andrea Vernall is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago. She can be found on Twitter at @andreav_otago

Aaron Mothersole is an MRes Drug Discovery and Development Researcher at Imperial College London

Mentioned in the episode

• the DNDi Open Synthesis Network
• the open source philosophy and the open science philosophy
• ‘Warhead’ molecules in cancer therapy

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

In the second episode of this six-part series, we are looking at the DNDi’s work on mycetoma, an infection that slowly inflicts disfigurement and disability on patients in rural, often isolated and underserved regions in the global south. Here to talk us through the disease and DNDi’s work against it are Wendy van de Sande, and Ahmed Fahal.

Wendy van de Sande is an Associate Professor in the Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam.

Ahmed Fahal is Professor of Surgery at the University of Khartoum, Sudan.

Mentioned in the episode

• Sudanese mycetoma patients – their stories
• Sudan’s Mycetoma Research Center
• the drug itraconazole and its problems

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

All things have their beginning, and no change arrives devoid of a cause. Accordingly, we’re kicking off this mini-series with a very special guest: DNDi’s founder and fearless leader, Bernard Pécoul. Here he discusses the organization’s origins, mission, and how it aims to challenge and change the status quo.

Bernard Pécoul is the Executive Director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative.

Angus Stewart, the host of this podcast series, is Associate Editor at The Medicine Maker.

Mentioned in the episode

• Médecins Sans Frontières, AKA Doctors Without Borders
• the DNDi’s work on Hep C in Malaysia
• DNDi’s funding and spending model

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

The Medicine Maker presents a 6 episode series on the inspiring efforts of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. Tune in and learn just what it takes to develop medicines for some of the world’s most neglected patient populations.