MANILA, Philippines - The Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), a not-for-profit research institute dedicated to finding new medicine to treat neglected, infectious diseases, is hosting a global symposium in the Philippines, bringing world-renowned dengue experts together to discuss critical issues facing dengue treatment and prevention.
The four-day symposium is the first of its kind in the Philippines, and comes at the middle of dengue season in the region, which typically occurs between July and November each year.
Discussions will focus on best research practices and clinical management, as well as the growing global presence and unmet medical need to treat this neglected disease.
“The symposium aims to promote information exchange between Novartis and various international and Philippine scientific and health institutions, as well as encourage collaboration among researchers with the shared goal of developing anti-dengue treatments,” said Eric van Oppens, president and CEO of Novartis Healthcare Philippines.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 50 million dengue cases and 500,000 dengue-related hospitalizations occur each year mainly among children in both developed and developing regions.
The global prevalence of dengue has risen by 11 times since 1970, when it was reported in only nine countries; now more than 100 countries have reported confirmed cases.
“Not only is dengue impacting the lives of millions globally, it is an increasingly problematic health issue in the Philippines — more than 16,000 cases of dengue have been reported in the country this year alone, although this is significantly lower than the number of cases we had in the past three years,” said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who will speak at the opening ceremony.
“Partnering with key stakeholders and leaders in the field such as the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases is an effective model for improving public health. Through the development of new drugs for important neglected diseases such as dengue, we will be able to provide treatments to those who need them most,” Duque said.
The most recent dengue outbreak in the Philippines was declared by the DOH this year after 181 cases were reported in Santiago City, Isabela from January to June, resulting in at least two deaths.
A total of 10,383 dengue cases were reported by the DOH from Jan. 1 to June 20 this year, 45.3 percent lower than reported cases for the same period in 2008 (18,966), with almost one in four cases (23.5 percent) coming from Metro Manila.
The DOH National Dengue Program focuses on community-based prevention and control in endemic areas where residents are instructed to clean their surroundings and drain water containers to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.
According to Dr. Efren Dimaano, head of the Clinical Division of San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, dengue diagnosis and management training sessions for rural health unit personnel in regions of the country with high rates of dengue mortality are an important component of the program.
“The holding of the first international dengue symposium in the Philippines is an excellent opportunity for Filipino healthcare professionals to improve dengue management in the country by working with and learning from the world’s leading dengue experts,” Dimaano said.
Dengue is currently the second deadliest mosquito-borne illness and one of the most prevalent emerging human diseases with no preventative vaccines or antiviral cures available.
Experts attribute dengue’s increasing prevalence to under-investment in research and development for effective methods to detect and treat the disease.
Because there are no available treatments, supportive care is presently the only existing tool to combat dengue. To date, Novartis is the only pharmaceutical company researching small-molecule dengue treatments.
“Before the NITD was established, there was no drug discovery dedicated to dengue fever, yet this disease affects as many as 50 million people every year,” said Dr. Paul Herrling, Novartis head of Corporate Research and NITD chairman.
“We are committed to discovering effective treatments for tropical diseases such as dengue by leveraging our experience, partnerships, and modern drug discovery tools,” he said.
Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to reduce dengue fatalities, as those who go undiagnosed usually succumb to fatal bleeding and organ failure.
Unfortunately, little is known about the pattern and dynamics of the dengue virus within outbreak situations as the illness often appears similar to other febrile diseases in their early stages, often delaying or complicating diagnosis and ultimately reducing the effectiveness of using clinical diagnosis as a tool for dengue treatment and surveillance.
To combat this, the NITD is currently conducting several studies to better understand, identify and use genomic data and the molecular epidemiology of dengue to predict outbreaks and severity levels of the disease.
Additional surveillance studies could prove useful in disease management, diagnosing dengue and predicting the likelihood of hemorrhaging.
“Failure of both patients and healthcare professionals to recognize critical phases of dengue delays diagnosis and treatment, which contributes to the high number of dengue deaths in the Philippines,” Dimaano said.
The Singapore-based NITD is a key contributor to providing research aimed at solving the problem of access to medicines in the developing world.
The NITD dengue research group focuses on developing dengue antiviral compounds, the idea being that administering antivirals in particular areas at the first indication of an outbreak will be more cost-effective than mass inoculations.
Novartis is unique in setting up a research institute that focuses on neglected diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria and dengue, said Herrling.
“The NITD focuses on diseases that have either been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry, or are currently treated by therapies that are impractical or in danger of becoming widely resisted,” he said.
Novartis has organized TB symposia in St. Petersburg, Russia (2006); Masan, Korea (2007); and Maputo, Mozambique (2008).
The NITD hosts such events in endemic regions to help scientists and partners understand the true impact of the disease and the unique local challenges doctors, clinicians and patients in the region face.
The NITD’s overarching goal is to discover novel treatments and prevention methods for major tropical diseases. In those developing countries where these diseases are endemic, Novartis intends to make treatments readily available without profit.