“Kymos is a group with the highest ethical standards. This is not a PR statement but our day-to-day philosophy” Dr. Carles Celma, Scientific Director at Kymos stresses. “It was our pleasure to take an active role in the STOP project for the treatment of intestinal parasites in developing countries as soon as ISGlobal approached us.”
The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (aka ISGlobal) is a public-private partnership bound to help alleviate health disparities between regions of the world. The Institute leads projects such as the EDCTP-funded STOP (Stopping Transmission in intestinal Parasites) for the testing of a novel drug coformulation against parasitic diseases. Dr. Jose Muñoz, Principal Investigator, explains the scope of the STOP project:
“Parasitic worms live in the intestine of up to one fifth of the world’s population and are a major cause of malnutrition, growth impairment and anemia in children” Dr. Muñoz begins. “Current treatments lack effectiveness against whipworm and threadworm and the World Health Organization has recommended the urgent implementation of ivermectin and albendazole as a promising alternative. Our plan is to enroll and treat 1223 children in clinical trials conducted in Kenya, Mozambique, and Ethiopia, three African countries with moderate to high prevalence of these parasitic worm diseases.”
But however exciting such a project may be, it was not without its challenges. Carles Celma remembers the initial problems they faced: “ISGlobal asked us for help in quantifying ivermectin and albendazole in Phase II-III clinical studies under rather exceptional circumstances: To prevent an interruption of the cold chain during sample collection at the three clinical sites it was necessary to employ MITRA Microsampling clamshells, a technology which calls for expert analytical method development and I am proud to say that we have succeeded in supporting ISGlobal in the best possible way” Dr. Celma concludes with satisfaction.
Jose Muñoz adds to Carles Celma’s comments: “We are very pleased with Kymos. In fact, it was the very manufacturer of ivermectin and albendazole who recommended us to entrust Kymos with the analytical part of our project: Jaime Algorta from Exeltis has a long and fruitful experience with Kymos and expressed (and I quote) a huge interest in their participation owing to their reliability.”
Dr. Celma ends the interview on a different note: “We are naturally happy to receive this kind of recognition for our work but knowing that through our contribution we are combating worm infestation, helping break the cycle of poverty and enabling these children to go to school and support their families instead is what makes our collaboration with ISGlobal truly exceptional. This is how we know we are in the right business” he concludes.
The Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal, is the fruit of an innovative alliance between the “la Caixa” Foundation, academic institutions and government bodies to contribute to the efforts undertaken by the international community to address the challenges in global health. Click to learn more about ISGlobal or the STOP project or contact us on info@isglobal.org.
