Date: 2014-02-04
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: new drugs to target sleeping sickness
Company: Selcia (UK) University of Edinburgh (UK)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases - Parasitic diseases
Type agreement:
Action mechanism:
Disease: sleeping sickness
Details: * On February 4, 2014, Selcia and the University of Edinburgh have announced a £2.5 million project to design novel treatments for sleeping sickness, The quest for new treatments will build on previous studies about how the infection occurs. Scientists have shown that the parasite is able to survive in the bloodstream by using enzymes to convert blood sugars into the energy it needs to stay alive. They have identified potential drug compounds that can stop two of these enzymes from functioning, so killing the parasite. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, working with the international life sciences contract research organisation Selcia, will design and develop drugs based on these drug compounds. Their aim is to design a drug that will be effective in small doses, and will work even on advanced infections. The 30-month project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, will seek to test the compounds in the lab and in mice, ahead of further studies that could involve human trials.
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