Scynexis, Inc and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) announced that they have extended their collaboration on vital drug discovery research and development of affordable and effective therapies for human African trypanosomiasis (also known as sleeping sickness) for an additional three years. Sleeping sickness is one of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Scynexis believes that this collaborative project approach with DNDi can play an important role in improving the discovery and development of new therapies for neglected diseases," said Scynexis president & CEO Yves Ribeill. "We are pleased with the progress this alliance has achieved to date and look forward to continuing to apply our expertise in drug discovery and development to identify new drug candidates to treat sleeping sickness."

A fatal disease if not treated, human African trypanosomiasis threatens more than 50 million people in 36 countries. Currently, few drugs exist for the treatment of either stage one or stage two human African trypanosomiasis and severe toxic side effects are a common problem. The difficulty of diagnosis, stage determination and increasing numbers of treatment failures pose additional clinical challenges.

The project between Scynexis and DNDi was initiated in 2006 and will now run through March of 2012. The collaboration includes partners at Pace University networked through the Heos software collaboration platform. The goal of this project is to progress molecules proven to be safe and active against HAT parasites in early-stage screening research through the first steps of regulatory safety assessment in the preclinical phase.

Dr Shing Chang R&D director of DNDi added that, "The partnership of Scynexis and DNDi provides a critical catalyst in the development of drugs to treat human African trypanosomiasis by mobilizing the best scientific resources to address the needs of the most neglected patients."

Scynexis is a premier drug discovery and development company delivering effective and innovative drug pipeline solutions to pharmaceutical and global health partners.

The Heos software suite is a comprehensive, web-based drug research information management software that supports geographically distributed scientists and facilitate collaboration.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is an independent, not-for-profit product development partnership working to research and develop new and improved treatments for neglected diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, human African trypanosomiasis, and Chagas disease.