E-DRUG: Paraomomycin for visceral leishmaniasis
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[Newsweek article on the work by the One World Health Foundation (http://www.oneworldhealth.org/). Copied as fair use. Thanks to Jude for forwarding. However, I don't think we are near "the" solution...
WB]
dear E-druggers,
Are we nearing the solution to neglected diseases?
See article below by Newsweek.
By the way, paramomycin also has a place in Cryptosporidiosis.
regards
Jude Ike Nwokike
monkiyke@yahoo.com
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6594602/site/newsweek/
Creating More Paths to Hope
By Victoria Hale
Newsweek
Dec. 6 issue - They were good friends of ours, and they were desperate.
Their 13-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with a deadly form of
cancer called Ewing's sarcoma. Her doctors had little to offer, and the
cancer was spreading fast. Was there anything, they begged us, that we
could do to help? My husband is a physician, and I had worked for years
in the Food and Drug Administration and in the biotech industry. With
the help of a of a former FDA colleague, we immediately began searching
for experimental compounds that might offer even a glimmer of hope.
And we found them. In fact, two substances had shown initial promise in
fighting the cancer yet both were sitting idle on laboratory shelves. No
clinical trials were planned. No one was working to develop the
compounds into drugs. The cancer, though deadly and potentially curable,
was too rare to create an attractive market for new treatments.
Drugmakers had better investments to pursue.
Shocking? Of course. But the harsh truth is that dozens, perhaps
hundreds, of potentially life-saving compounds sit on university or
drug-company shelves because there isn't a profitable market for them.
The story is usually the same. A dedicated pharmaceutical scientist,
testing compounds in the lab, finds something that looks promising. It
works in cell cultures. Preliminary animal studies look good. But
research isn't development, and development costs a lot of money. If a
new drug isn't likely to generate big profits, chances are it will never
leave the laboratory. Sometimes the target is a rare condition like
Ewing's sarcoma, which strikes only a few thousand Americans a year. But
it can also be a disabling or deadly disease that strikes millions of
people people unlucky enough to live in an impoverished country.
It's easy to blame drug companies, and they've had their fair share of
criticism. But let's face it: they're in the business of making money.
Their shareholders demand it. Why would a profit-driven company spend
millions developing treatments for a parasitic infection found only in
Africa when it can make billions on new drugs for baldness or erectile
dysfunction? Clearly we have to find other ways of bringing needed drugs
to market.
This year we've just completed the third phase of clinical trials for
our first drug, paramomycin, which targets visceral leishmaniasis. Few
Americans have ever heard of the disease, but it afflicts 1.5 million
people worldwide and kills some 200,000 every year. We expect the new
drug to be approved by fall 2005. And if all goes well, we'll soon begin
testing a drug to treat Chagas' disease, a scourge that affects people
in Central and South America. So far we've focused on medicines that can
save the most lives or ease the most suffering, especially in places
where the cost of prescription drugs is beyond reach. But there are
still plenty of compounds worth developing for rare diseases like the
cancer that took the life of our friends' daughter.
As scientists and companies hear about our efforts, many are calling to
say, "Hey, we've got something you may be interested in." And many of
them are volunteering their time and expertise. That's been enormously
gratifying, of course, but not surprising. Most pharmaceutical
researchers got into the business because they wanted to ease suffering
and save lives. Systems may be flawed, but most people want to do the
right thing. All they need all any of us need is to create a path.
Hale is the founder and chief executive officer of the Institute for
OneWorld Health, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company based in San Francisco.