KCCR AND DNDI PARTNER TO ADVANCE DRUG DISCOVERY FOR SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN AFRICA
October 6, 2026
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) has launched a new drug discovery partnership with the DRUGS FOR NEGLECTED DISEASES INITIATIVE (DNDi) to help develop better treatments for schistosomiasis, one of Africa’s most widespread parasitic diseases.
The collaboration will see KNUST’s KCCR screen around 100 drug candidates against the species of Schistosoma most common in Africa, with the goal of establishing Ghana’s first laboratory with this screening capacity. The project is supported by funding from the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space(BMFTR).
Schistosomiasis affects more than 250 million people worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and current treatment options have significant limitations particularly for juvenile worm infections and for women and girls living with female genital schistosomiasis (FGS).
“This important partnership with DNDi means Ghanaian scientists are now part of a global effort in building the science and innovation needed to reach that goal, in our own laboratories, and for our own communities,”Prof. Alexander Yaw Debrah, Scientific Director of KCCR.
As part of the collaboration, two KNUST researchers will travel to the University of Bonn in Germany for hands-on training in laboratory screening methods. The partnership is DNDi’s first drug discovery collaboration on the African continent and marks a significant step for KNUST into early-stage drug discovery research.
