Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of many similar units known as proglottids—essentially packages of eggs which are regularly shed into the environment to infect other organisms. Species of the other subclass, Cestodaria, are mainly fish infecting parasites. All cestodes are parasitic; many have complex life histories, including a stage in a definitive (main) host in which the adults grow and reproduce, often for years, and one or two intermediate stages in which the larvae develop in other hosts. Typically the adults live in the digestive tracts of vertebrates, while the larvae often live in the bodies of other animals, either vertebrates or invertebrates. For example, Diphyllobothrium has at least two intermediate hosts, a crustacean and then one or more freshwater fish; its definitive host is a mammal. Some cestodes are host-specific, while others are parasites of a wide variety of hosts. Some six thousand species have been described; probably all vertebrates can host at least one species. The adult tapeworm has a scolex (head), a short neck, and a strobila (segmented body) formed of proglottids. Tapeworms anchor themselves to the inside of the intestine of their host using their scolex, which typically has hooks, suckers, or both. They have no mouth, but absorb nutrients directly from the hosts gut.
In the United States, it was rejected for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis with polyneuropathy because the Food and Drug Administration saw insufficient evidence for its efficacy.Tafamidis can also be used to treat transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. It was approved for the treatment of this form of the disease in the United States in 2019 and in the European Union in 2020. In the United States, there are two approved preparations: tafamidis meglumine (Vyndaqel) and tafamidis (Vyndamax). The two preparations have the same active moiety, tafamidis, but they are not substitutable on a milligram to milligram basis.Tafamidis (Vyndamax) and tafamidis meglumine (Vyndaqel) were approved for medical use in Australia in March 2020. References
Further reading
Adams D (March 2013). "Recent advances in the treatment of familial amyloid polyneuropathy". Ther Adv Neurol Disord. 6 (2): 129–39. doi:10.1177/1756285612470192. PMC 3582309. PMID 23483184. Coelho T, Maia LF, Martins da Silva A,  et al. (August 2012). "Tafamidis for transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy: a randomized, controlled trial". Neurology. 79 (8): 785–92. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182661eb1. PMC 4098875. PMID 22843282. External links
"Tafamidis". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Tafamidis meglumine". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine.