New Leishmaniasis Drugs Face Hurdle Of Funding Large Trials, Navigating Regulatory Approval Processes

The New York Times (12/19, Nolen) reports, “Among the so-called ‘neglected tropical diseases,’ many experts believe leishmaniasis is in a class of its own in terms of the lack of progress, in the 120 years since it was first identified, to help the two million people who contract it each year.” However, several new treatments are “being developed by the Program for the Study and Control of Tropical Diseases,” all of which “are far less toxic, onerous or expensive than what exists now. But a big hurdle still stands in the way of getting them to the millions of people who need them.” There is little profit “to be made on a drug for a condition that overwhelmingly affects the poor, and academic or public health institutes rarely have the resources to push a drug through to the end of the” drug approval “process, said Marcela Vieira, a Brazilian intellectual property lawyer with an expertise in drug development and access.”