Review abstract


Nature Chemical Biology 2, 701 - 710 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nchembio837

Drug discovery and development for neglected parasitic diseases

Adam R Renslo1 & James H McKerrow2


Diseases caused by tropical parasites affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide but have been largely neglected for drug development because they affect poor people in poor regions of the world. Most of the current drugs used to treat these diseases are decades old and have many limitations, including the emergence of drug resistance. This review will summarize efforts to reinvigorate the drug development pipeline for these diseases, which is driven in large part by support from major philanthropies. The organisms responsible for these diseases have a fascinating biology, and many potential biochemical targets are now apparent. These neglected diseases present unique challenges to drug development that are being addressed by new consortia of scientists from academia and industry.

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  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Small Molecule Discovery Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
  2. Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.

Correspondence to: Adam R Renslo1 e-mail: adam.renslo@ucsf.edu

Correspondence to: James H McKerrow2 e-mail: jmck@cgl.ucsf.edu



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