Wellcome Trust's 91M fund aims at developing new drugs related to the dengue fever virus

Wellcome TrustOct 26 2009

Largest British fund for biomedical research finances project on breakbone fever in Leuven

• The Laboratory for Virology and Experimental Chemotherapy (Rega Institute) and the "Centre for Drug Design and Discovery" (CD3) at K.U.Leuven will receive a total of 2.8 million euro from the British Wellcome Trust.
• They will apply these funds to the search for possible new medication for the treatment of infections related to the 'dengue fever virus'. Dengue or 'breakbone fever' is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions. As of yet, there is neither a vaccine nor any form of treatment for this disease.
• The findings of the researchers in Leuven will be developed further into medication, in co-operation with the pharmaceutical industry.
• The Wellcome Trust is the largest independent fund for biomedical research in the United Kingdom. This is the first time that the fund is financing technology transfer on the European continent.

The Wellcome Trust spends over 600 million pounds each year to support its mission to foster and promote research with the aim to improving human and animal health. This funding supports basic research as well as technology transfer, the transfer of academic knowledge and technology to the corporate environment. The funding announced today comes through the Trust's Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative, a -91M fund aimed at developing new drugs to address areas of unmet medical need.

The "Centre for Drug Design and Discovery" (CD3), directed by Dr. Patrick Chaltin, specialises in the discovery of new medications, always in co-operation with academic research groups or small biotech companies. CD3 was founded by K.U.Leuven Research & Development (LRD) in 2006, in partnership with the European Investment Fund (EIF). In the past 3 years, CD3 has established and contributed to approximately 20 projects searching for molecules that may constitute the foundation for new therapies for various diseases, such as AIDS, cancer and Alzheimer's. CD3 ensures that fundamental research is converted into usable results that may be licensed by companies.

The research into dengue, a virus for which there is no vaccine or treatment, is led by Prof. Johan Neyts of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Rega Institute at K.U.Leuven. The Rega Institute specialises particularly in antiviral research. Medications discovered at the Rega Institute are currently successfully administered for the treatment of, for example, AIDS, viral hepatitis and infections related to herpes viruses.