Struggling Towards New and Better Drugs

Drug shows promise against Chagas’ disease
Los Angeles Times
Charles Piller
Mar. 31, 2005

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A few new drugs to treat Chagas disease are currently being studied. Among them is the compound TAK-187, which has shown remarkable success in treating Chagas in mice. Moreover, TAK-187 might be more effective and have fewer dangerous side-effects than existing medications.

The most common currently used drug is benznidazole, which is not always effective at killing the parasites. Moreover, it can have toxic effects on the body, and can cause nerve and bone marrow damage.

TAK-187, an anti-fungal agent, seems to block production of ergosterol, a steroid that is vital in the parasite’s development. The drug has the potential to be an oral drug, rather than an ingestible one, which would make its delivery easier and possibly cheaper. Additionally, it is effective at one-tenth the blood concentration that benznidazole is and could be administered less frequently. Scientists postulate that this may be because the new compound is not as easily metabolized and excreted by the body.

Of course, this drug is in very early stages of study. As of 2005, they had not yet begun large-animal testing. Because drug approval moves so slowly, it is hard to say whether this drug will ever make it to market at all. Again, this is a drug intended as a systemic anti-fungal agent that unintentionally demonstrates effectiveness against Chagas. Even if further study shows that it is indeed successful in fighting Chagas, and that it is better at doing so than the existing drugs, there is no guarantee that it can be mass-produced and brought to market in order to benefit the millions of Chagas victims.