Researchers at the College of Life Sciences have identified
fexinidazole as a possible, much-needed, new treatment for the
parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is named
after William Leishman, a Glasgwegian doctor serving with the
British Army in India, who first identified the parasite in the
early 1900s. The disease is the second biggest killer in Africa,
Asia and Latin America after malaria, and affects 500,000
people, killing about 50-60,000 patients per year. Current drug
treatments for the disease are unsatisfactory for reasons such
as high cost, drug resistance or the need for hospitalisation.
Fexinidazole is already in phase 1 clinical trials for a related
disease - African sleeping sickness – but a research team at
Dundee including Dr Susan Wyllie, Professor Alan Fairlamb and
colleagues has identified it as having potential in treating
leishmaniasis. Their research has been published by the journal
Science Translational Medicine, and was funded by the Wellcome
Trust. Tests in mice