Nonfiction alumna Lacy Warner ‘16 recently debuted her first short documentary, A Journey of Sight: The Long Road Toward Curing River Blindness, with Epic Digital and Vox Media.
A Journey of Sight delves into the partnership between AbbVie, a biopharmaceutical company, and Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi), a nonprofit drug and research organization, to find potential treatment for onchocerciasis, or river blindness. Onchocerciasis is a disease that affects approximately 15.5 million people mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.
The documentary features chemist and research fellow Dale Kempf who assembled 400 scientists out of Chicago to develop a treatment for onchocerciasis. A potential medication for the disease is currently in phase two clinical trials in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The global group of people seeking to find a treatment for onchocerciasis by dedicating time, resources, and education depicts the necessity of disruptive innovation and collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry to drive impact and positive change.
A Journey of Sight: The Long Road Toward Curing River Blindness is now available for viewing on Vox.