Parasitic infections are a significant global health problem, resulting in more than a million deaths annually. Unfortunately there is no licensed vaccine available for any human parasitic infection, and in many cases current drugs suffer from issues of parasite drug resistance. To address this problem this project brings together leading researchers from the European Union, Brazil, and Australia to discover and develop new types of drugs for four major human parasitic diseases: schistosomiasis, ....Parasitic infections are a significant global health problem, resulting in more than a million deaths annually. Unfortunately there is no licensed vaccine available for any human parasitic infection, and in many cases current drugs suffer from issues of parasite drug resistance. To address this problem this project brings together leading researchers from the European Union, Brazil, and Australia to discover and develop new types of drugs for four major human parasitic diseases: schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and malaria.Read moreRead less
Investigating The Therapeutic Potential Of FTY720 For Human African Trypanosomiasis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$653,736.00
Summary
FTY720, is a drug currently used to treat multiple sclerosis, which we have shown is also be able to kill the parasite responsible for African sleeping sickness, Trypanosomes. We aim to identify the target the drug acts on in the parasite to have its affect. Our objective is to improve the activity further by chemical modification to produce a potent, orally available and well characterised, non-toxic drug suitable for preclinical development.