15 November 2006

Rwandan Ambassador praises drug discovery effort at Dundee

H. E. Claver Gatete, the Rwandan Ambassador to the United Kingdom, today praised the efforts of the University of Dundee in investigating treatments for tropical diseases which blight the lives of millions of people in Africa.

Mr Gatete was given a tour of the Drug Discovery Unit within the College of Life Sciences at Dundee by Professor Alan Fairlamb, who is head of the University’s Division of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Microbiology and a world-renowned specialist in the biochemistry of tropical diseases.

Professor Fairlamb is one of the leading researchers involved with the University’s programme of drug discovery for tropical diseases, primarily aimed at African sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease and leishmaniasis.

"What I have seen here today is extremely impressive," said Mr Gatete. "It is very important we find treatments for these preventable diseases like sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease, which cause so many problems for countries like ours."

"Preventable diseases, together with poverty, have contributed to the poor living standards and many economic problems which have affected such countries. In Rwanda sleeping sickness has been a major cause of infant death."

"It is vital that resources are devoted to finding treatments for these diseases. I believe that the work being done here in Dundee could be very important for Rwanda and other African countries."

The Drug Discovery Unit, housed within the £20 million Sir James Black Centre, was officially opened in January 2006 by Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The aim of the Unit is to translate basic research discoveries into candidate drugs ready for clinical trials. The diseases, which include African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis, are among the most neglected in the world. Despite the fact they affect millions of the world's poorest people, these diseases have attracted little or no interest from pharmaceutical companies.

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