Swiss TPH study shows promise in using feline drug to treat human parasitic worm infections

TANZANIA—The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), in collaboration with the Public Health Laboratory Ivo de Carneri (PHL-IdC), has published a study on the efficacy of the drug Emodepside against parasitic worms in humans.

The study, conducted on Pemba Island, Tanzania, has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the study, emodepside demonstrated high cure rates for three soil-transmitted helminths.

At a dosage of 5mg, 83% of people were cured from whipworm, and at a dosage of 15mg, 100% of all patients were cured.

The team also noted that the drug was well tolerated with mild side effects in the patients under study.

Overall, the study enrolled 442 participants infected with one or more of the three main soil-transmitted helminths: Trichuris trichiura (whipworm), hookworm, and Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm).

The participants were randomly assigned to emodepside, albendazole, or placebo treatment groups.

Emodepside is an anthelminthic treatment that has been used in veterinary medicine for cats against gastrointestinal roundworms and hookworms.

The researchers, led by Dr. Jennifer Keiser, Head of the Helminth Drug Development Unit at Swiss TPH, believe that drug repurposing is a key strategy in anthelminthic drug discovery and development.

Dr. Keiser emphasized the importance of the recent clinical trial results in the field of neglected tropical diseases.

She highlighted that no new anthelminthic drugs have been developed in the past decades and that the promising results of the study mark a significant milestone towards controlling and eliminating soil-transmitted helminthiases.

Following the positive outcomes, Swiss TPH will collaborate with Bayer, a life science company, on the further development of the drug.

Soil-transmitted helminth infections, caused by various species of parasitic worms, including whipworms, hookworms, and roundworms, are often overlooked.

Globally, more than 1.5 billion people are infected with at least one soil-transmitted helminth, with the majority residing in low- and middle-income countries.

Infected individuals may experience symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhea, and anemia, while severe infections can lead to malnutrition, impaired growth, and physical development.

For decades, the only readily available treatments for parasitic worm infections have been Albendazole and Mebendazole.

Albendazole, introduced in 1977 for treating soil-transmitted helminth infections in sheep, was approved for human use in 1982, while Mebendazole has been in use since 1971.

Both drugs work by blocking worms from utilizing glucose, effectively killing them. These two drugs are currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of parasitic worms.

However, in the case of whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) infections, a single dose of these drugs can only cure 17% of infected individuals.

Additionally, Swiss TPH expresses concern over the rise of drug resistance and the urgent need for new alternative treatments.

Mebendazole is the drug of choice for treating whipworms, but a single 500mg dose results in a cure rate of only 40-75%. Albendazole, the alternative drug, exhibits slightly lower efficacy.

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