NOVEL SMALL MOLECULES FOR THE TREATMENT OF PARASITIC DISEASES: TRICHOMONIASIS, MALARIA, CHAGAS DISEASE

Background:

Parasitic diseases, such as malaria, African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and trichomoniasis, are major worldwide health problems for which new chemotherapy is desperately needed. For example, an estimated five million cases of the sexually transmitted disease trichomoniasis occur each year in the United States alone. Malaria kills over a million people a year worldwide and is second only to tuberculosis in its impact on world health. Current treatments for these diseases have varying degrees of effectiveness and serious problems with toxicity, drug-resistant strains, and lack of selectivity. Therefore, there is a need for the development of new therapeutics for the treatment of these diseases.

Description:

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that a novel series of small molecules, in a class that has previously been evaluated for antiviral and anticancer therapy, is effective in killing a variety of parasites, including those that cause malaria, trichomoniasis, Chagas disease and African sleeping sickness. By screening a library of these novel small molecule compounds, the researchers found several promising lead compounds that killed a range of parasites in cell culture assays and had no toxicity in mouse studies. These compounds therefore represent a potentially powerful new therapeutic avenue for parasitic diseases.

Advantages of these novel small molecules:

• May provide the basis for a new class of therapeutics for parasitic diseases.
• Chemically unique, and thus mechanism of action is likely orthogonal to existing therapeutics, alleviating the current problem of drug resistant strains.
• Minimal toxicity in vivo.
• Physical properties of the compounds are known to be compatible with desirable pharmacokinetics and bioavailability.
• Can be produced by a simple synthetic process, thus leading to low production costs.

Therapeutic Applications:

• Trichomoniasis
• Malaria
• African sleeping sickness
• Chagas disease

Patent Appliations:

The Regents of the University of California has filed patent applications covering compositions of matter and methods of treatment.

If you would like to receive further information about this technology and potential licensing opportunities, please contact:

Sunita Rajdev, Ph.D.
Licensing Officer
(415) 353-4470 phone
(415) 348-1579 fax
Sunita Rajdev


Reference: OTM Case #SF01-071 / SF04-054