Collaboration and commitment are key for successful drug development. As you learned in the previous step, with Fexinidazole, a new treatment era for African Human Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) has begun.

The Product Development Partnership (PDP) behind the development of Fexinidazole could serve as a model for future drug development processes around the globe, promising to keep costs low.

We invite you to read a short article by Amy Maxwell, a science journalist, to learn about the story of Fexinidazole and the feasibility of drug development via PDPs in more detail.

Afterwards, answer the following questions:

• What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of a PDP approach to developing drugs?
• Could the PDP model be applied for drug development against cancers and rare diseases in high-income countries?

References

Maxmen, A. Busting the billion-dollar myth: how to slash the cost of drug development. Nature [Internet]. 2016 [cited 1 December 2021]; 536: 388–390. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/536388a