02.12.2019

Public-Private Partnership Launched to Develop New Drugs for Roundworm Infections

A new consortium of research institutes, universities, non-profit organizations, and pharmaceutical companies, has been formed. The HELP consortium aims to develop new drugs for infections caused by parasitic worms (helminths),  which are group of parasites that cause debilitating diseases like river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, as well as infection with hookworm and whipworm. Together these diseases affect close to a billion people.
The HELP (Helminth Elimination Platform) consortium, which is led by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), will undertake activities ranging from drug discovery to development. Compound classes with validated drug targets in parasitological and preclinical studies in veterinary medicine will be evaluated for application in humans. Oxfendazole and oxantel pamoate, two well-characterized compounds, will also be studied in early clinical testing. In addition, HELP will contribute to capacity building of affected countries to conduct R&D for these diseases by translational medicine, and lead two clinical first-in-human phase I trials in Africa.

To website: eliminateworms.org:

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