neglected diseasess

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/science/26conv.html

Some excerpts:

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Dr. McKerrow, 57, a pathologist and biochemist, lives out his family's

traditions in the way he does his science. As the director of the

Sandler Center for Basic Research in Parasitic Diseases at the

University of California, San Francisco, he has been looking for - and

finding - promising new treatments for parasitic infections that sicken

millions of people in the developing world.

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At my lab, we are working on the five neglected diseases of mankind -

malaria; schistosomiasis; leishmaniasis, a k a the Baghdad boil;

African sleeping sickness; and Chagas' disease.

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Q. How does a researcher get past a roadblock like the lack of interest

of pharmaceutical companies?

A. At my lab, we've been circumventing the problem by becoming a kind

of pharmaceutical company ourselves. With funding from the Sandler

Family Foundation, we've purchased machines that facilitate new styles

of research.

There's this new computerized robot that permits a researcher to

quickly assay thousands of substances to see if they might be effective

against parasites.

In the past, if you wanted to test 1,000 compounds, you'd need 1,000

scientists pouring chemicals between test tubes, back and forth, back

and forth. With this new technology, you can test 1,000 substances in a

couple of hours.

After we got the machine, we ran " libraries " of F.D.A.-approved drugs

for other uses through it. Very quickly, we've found 90 with promise as

antiparasitic agents.

The big thing is, we've quickly found something that might combat

African sleeping sickness.

Q. What kinds of drugs did you test?

A. We tried Cialis, but it wasn't a hit. For African sleeping sickness,

we got hits for a well-known antidepressant, a muscle relaxant, an

antibiotic and " old man's beard, " a plant compound sometimes used in

traditional Chinese medicine.

The muscle relaxant and the anti-depressant are particularly promising

because they bypass the blood-brain barrier, a requirement in this

neurological disease. Since these drugs are approved for other uses, it

shortcuts the process of getting them out there. Of course, they'll

have to be tested on infected people.

By the way, we've had good luck on Chagas' disease, too - though we

tried something different there. We actually have a drug candidate that

has already successfully passed animal testing and will soon be ready

to be tested on people.e

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Sue ,

Upstate New York