New findings have been published in Trends in Parasitology by Catriona Baker, a medical student, from the Welburn lab. Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is responsible for around 3,000 reported cases each year. Treatments for HAT are expensive and problematic to administer and available drugs are old and less than ideal, some with high levels of toxicity that result in debilitating and in some cases fatal side effects. Treatment options are limited with only one drug, eflornithine, introduced in the last 28 years. Here we examine the limitations of current chemotherapeutic approaches to manage HAT, the constraints to new drug development exploring drug failures and new drugs on the horizon and consider the epidemiological, political, social and economic factors influencing drug development. Related links Read the original article in Trends in Parasitology Prof Sue Welburns profile page Publication date 28 Sep, 2018
