Global Health Institute of Merck, Ares Trading S.A., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany), 1262 Eysins, Switzerland.
ACS Infect Dis. 2021 May 14;7(5):939-942. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00542. Epub 2020 Aug 21.
Schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease provoked by infection with parasitic blood flukes of the genus , affects almost 240 million people worldwide, and more than 700 million people live in endemic areas. However, 40 years after the approval of praziquantel as an anthelmintic drug, the pipeline is nearly empty, and no other therapeutic alternative has reached the market. In its roadmap to "eliminate Schistosomiasis as a public health problem by 2030", the World Health Organization calls for the development of new therapeutic interventions. A viewpoint on the learnings from praziquantel research as well as shaping the next generation of drugs is shared.
血吸虫病是一种由寄生性血吸虫属引起的被忽视的热带病，影响着全球近 2.4 亿人，还有超过 7 亿人生活在流行地区。然而，在吡喹酮被批准为驱虫药物 40 年后，药物研发管线几乎枯竭，没有其他治疗选择进入市场。在其“到 2030 年消除血吸虫病这一公共卫生问题”的路线图中，世界卫生组织呼吁开发新的治疗干预措施。本文就吡喹酮研究中的经验教训以及塑造下一代药物进行了观点分享。
