The DNDi Podcast

At least 40 million women and girls worldwide are affected by female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), a neglected parasitic disease that can cause severe pain and stigma. Yet despite its enormous burden, FGS remains widely overlooked and misdiagnosed. 

Treatment options are also limited. Praziquantel, the only available drug, is effective against adult worms but less effective against juvenile worms, highlighting the need for treatments that can target the parasite throughout its life cycle.  

Dr Jennifer Downs, from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Weill Bugando School of Medicine in Tanzania, and Dr Amy Sturt, from Stanford University, recently co-led a landmark four-paper series on FGS published in The Lancet, bringing together the latest knowledge on its epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and co-infections. 

In this episode, Dr Downs and Dr Sturt take us inside their research, explain why the disease remains so neglected, the pain and stigma experienced by women living with FGS, and why better diagnostics and treatments are urgently needed. 

More information on dndi.org/diseases/parasitic-worms/schistosomiasis/  

Contact us: [email protected]  

Lancet series on Schistosomiasis in women and adolescent girls: www.thelancet.com/series-do/schistosomiasis-in-women-and-adolescent-girls 

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette

Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist

Picture: Brent Stirton/Getty Images for DNDi

As the UN General Assembly is taking place in New York this week, with pandemic preparedness high on the agenda, we sat down with Ed Griffen, medicinal chemist and technical director at MedChemica, Pascale Boulet, intellectual property lawyer and access leader at DNDi, and Michelle Childs, Policy Advocacy Director at DNDi, to discuss two pioneering open-science drug discovery initiatives: the COVID-Moonshot and the ASAP Discovery Consortium.

Both projects are working to discover and develop broad-spectrum antivirals against viruses of pandemic potential.

Along the way, they faced a key challenge: how to reconcile their open-science model while preventing predatory patenting and safeguarding the possibility of non-exclusive manufacturing and broad global access.  

In response, Moonshot and ASAP researchers developed innovative approaches to intellectual property and patenting. Their experience offer valuable lessons for the broader discussion on how to foster innovation and access in pandemic preparedness. 

More information on dndi.org

Contact us: [email protected]

Read more about the ASAP Discovery Consortium at asapdiscovery.org

and the COVID-Moonshot project at dndi.org/research-development/portfolio/covid-moonshot

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette.

Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.

Picture: Brent Stirton/Getty Images for DNDi

Daisy Hernandez is a writer, journalist, and Associate Professor of English at Northwestern University in the United States. She is the author of the acclaimed book The Kissing Bug, a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease.

In our conversation, we discuss Daisy's work, Chagas disease in the U.S., and the challenges of raising awareness about the neglected disease.

More information on dndi.org

Contact us: [email protected]

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.

'Leishmaniasis is not only a disease of the skin but also of inequity, climate, and opportunity.’

Tune in to our in-depth conversation with Dr Mawatheeq Al-Yafrosi, a dermatology resident at Al-Thawra Modern General Hospital in Sana’a, Yemen.

Many of Dr Al-Yafrosi’s patients are affected by cutaneous leishmaniasis, a neglected parasitic disease that can lead to acute social stigma, particularly for women and children. Ongoing conflict in Yemen further complicates efforts to control the disease.

Many thanks to Jessica Robbins, from the Leishmaniasis Advocacy Network for connecting us with Dr Al-Yafrosi.

More information on dndi.org

Contact us: [email protected]

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.

'The color of a tablet seems like a trivial thing, but it is not.'

Tune in to our in-depth conversation with Dr Stephen Robinson, Pharmaceutical Development Director at DNDi.

Stephen oversees all Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) work for both DNDi and our sister organization GARDP. In this interview, he talks in particular about zoliflodacin, a newly registered antibiotic for gonorrhea developed by GARDP; about acoziborole, a new single-dose oral treatment for sleeping sickness developed by DNDi; and explains why CMC is a shared resource between GARDP and DNDi.

More information on dndi.org

Contact us: [email protected]

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.

'Any organization that works in R&D has a duty to have proper governance that includes peer review.’

Tune in to our in-depth interview conversation with Dr Pauline Williams, the newly appointed chair of DNDi's Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). 

Dr Williams explains why SAC's scientific opinions are so important to DNDi’s work. She shares her views on non-profit medical R&D current shifts in the global health innovation ecosystem, and how organizations like DNDi can tackle future challenges.  

More information on dndi.org

Contact us: [email protected]

Introductory music: Maputo Queen by Etienne de la Sayette. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist.