The Novartis Institute for Tropical Disease (NITD) was a Singapore-based

tropical disease Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by for ...

research institute created through a public-private partnership between

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

and the Singapore Economic Development Board. Research at NITD focuses primarily on developing novel

small molecule Within the fields of molecular biology and pharmacology, a small molecule or micromolecule is a low molecular weight (≤ 1000 daltons) organic compound that may regulate a biological process, with a size on the order of 1 nm. Many drugs ...

therapies for tropical infectious diseases that are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the developing world, particularly dengue fever,

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

History and mission

NITD was founded in 2002 as a public-private partnership between Swiss-based pharmaceutical company

and the Singapore Economic Development Board. NITD states its goals are "to discover novel treatments and

prevention Prevention may refer to: Health and medicine * Preventive healthcare, measures to prevent diseases or injuries rather than curing them or treating their symptoms General safety * Crime prevention, the attempt to reduce deter crime and crim ...

methods for major

s." Their website states they hope to have at least two drug candidates going through

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, diet ...

s in patients by the year 2012. Novartis has also stated that the NITD will seek to make treatments developed by the NITD available without profit to the poor in developing nations in which these diseases are

. In 2017, NITD moved out of Singapore to be beside Novartis' infectious diseases research headquarters in Emeryville, California, United States.

Research

NITD is a

drug discovery research institute. Research is currently focused on three main diseases: * dengue fever *

. NITD's research model relies on global partnership with other research institutes. In 2008, NITD announced a 5-year collaborative research effort would be conducted in cooperation with the

TB Alliance TB Alliance (formallyThe Global Alliance for TB Drug Development) is a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP) dedicated to the discovery and development of new, faster-acting and affordable tuberculosis (TB) medicines. Since its inc ...

to develop new medicines for tuberculosis, including drug resistant tuberculosis.

Education

In addition to research, NITD is engaged in educational activities. It runs a research-based Master of Science program in fields related to infectious diseases in cooperation with National University of Singapore,

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

and Swiss Tropical Institute. NITD also supports training opportunities for

post-graduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

students and

post-doctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

fellows.

References

External links

NITD official website
{{coord, 1.3040, 103.7891, display=title Novartis 2002 establishments in Singapore Tropical medicine organizations Medical research institutes in Singapore