Recent news
February 2012
Drug candidate could treat two neglected diseases
February 7, 2012 -- Researchers at the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom are investigating whether fexinidazole, a treatment undergoing Phase I trials for the neglected tropical disease (NTD) African sleeping sickness, might also be a candidate for treating the NTD leishmaniasis.
The scientists found that five days of oral treatment with fexinidazole almost completely suppressed leishmaniasis infection in mice. In addition, fexinidazole converts into two active agents once in the body, and the researchers found that these agents remain at therapeutic levels for more than a day. This means that a potential leishmaniasis treatment using fexinidazole might require a single daily oral dose.
The results of this research were recently published in Science Translational Medicine. Alan Fairlamb, the study’s lead author, said that because fexinidazole is already in trials for another disease, this could speed up development of the drug for leishmaniasis. "If you know, through previous clinical trials for other indications, that a drug is well tolerated and has no major safety concerns you can move quickly," he said, adding, "Lessons learned in one trial will inform another. The development [time] has been shortened by several years."
