Award to develop new drug against Chagas’ disease

13 March 2012

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has received a Strategic Translation Award from the Wellcome Trust to develop a promising drug to treat Chagas’ disease. The Award will take the project to the end of phase II clinical trials.

The compound, E1224, has previously been studied to treat fungal diseases but also has potent activity against the parasite that causes Chagas' disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. In 2009, DNDi joined forces with Eisai Co. Ltd. - the Japanese pharmaceutical company that discovered E1224 - to develop this new chemical entity for Chagas' disease.

Dr Bernard Pécoul, Executive Director, DNDi said: "This contribution from the Wellcome Trust is a first for DNDi. It gives us vital support in the phase II clinical trial for this much needed oral drug for adult patients with Chagas' disease. In addition, it reinforces our Chagas' partnership with Eisai."

A phase II proof-of-concept study started in July 2011 with the treatment of adult patients in Cochabamba and Tarija, Bolivia, which carries the world's largest Chagas' disease burden. It is estimated that about 7 per cent of Bolivia's population is infected with the disease.

The study will evaluate the potential of E1224 as an oral, easy-to-use, safe and affordable treatment for Chagas' disease. In addition, the study will explore potential biomarkers that could be used to monitor therapeutic responses in Chagas' disease.

Chagas' disease is a potentially fatal illness caused by infection with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted by the infected faeces of blood-sucking insects called triatomine bugs. Chronically infected patients can develop life-threatening heart and/or digestive problems.

The only current treatment options for Chagas' disease - nifurtimox and benznidazole - are known to have serious limitations in adult chronic patients, with side-effects ranging from allergies to potentially serious peripheral and central nervous system reactions. Furthermore, their efficacy diminishes the longer the patient has been infected with the parasite. There is, therefore, a need for a safer and more effective treatment for adult chronic Chagas' disease patients.

Image credit: Wellcome Photo Library, Wellcome Images.