Novartis and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have formed an alliance to advance development of Novartis' drug candidate KDU731 for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis.

Diarrheal diseases are one of the leading causes of childhood mortality globally, resulting in approximately 525,000 deaths each year and cryptosporidiosis is the second leading cause of infectious diarrhea in children under 2 years of age.

KDU731 is a Cryptosporidium lipid kinase PI(4)K (phosphatidylinositol-4-OH kinase) inhibitor, which has been shown to effectively treat Cryptosporidium infection in preclinical models and is currently undergoing safety studies prior to the initiation of clinical trials.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $6.5 million to support the development of this drug candidate for the treatment of children by the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD). 

NITD is a Novartis research institute dedicated solely to the discovery and development of new medicines to treat malaria, cryptosporidiosis, and three major kinetoplastid diseases - human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), chagas disease and leishmaniasis.