Neglected diseases drug discovery
25 October 2005
A research team based at the University of Dundee has been awarded £8.1 million to advance their work developing new therapies for neglected diseases.
Tropical infectious diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis affect millions of the world's poorest people, but attract little or no interest from pharmaceutical companies.
No vaccines exist to prevent these debilitating and often lethal infections, and many of the current drugs have serious side effects. Other drugs are either too expensive for widespread use or are becoming less effective because of resistance.
The grant was awarded to Professors Mike Ferguson, Alan Fairlamb, Bill Hunter, Ian Gilbert and Julie Frearson, and Dr Daan van Aalten, all based within the School of Life Sciences at the University. Their goal is to translate the insights arising from basic research into candidate drugs ready for clinical trials, taking them to a stage where they become attractive to public-private partnerships and the commercial sector for further development.
The grant will allow the team to add 16 scientists to their existing 60, spanning all the disciplines needed to go from biology to drug design, synthesis and testing.
See also
- Neglected diseases: New drugs on the way? (News: 8 September 2005)
- Press release