Medicinal Chemistry for Neglected Diseases – Malaria, Tuberculosis, Sleeping Sickness, Leishmaniasis and River Blindness

Abstract

Not every life-threatening or debilitating disease has a sufficient armoury of therapies available nor a pipeline of future products to combat the remaining unmet areas of medical need. This is particularly so in the areas of infectious diseases affecting, disproportionately, those in low- and middle-income countries where market forces, namely the inability to recoup research and development costs through sales, disincentivises new discovery and product innovation. This is further exacerbated by the inevitable challenges of resistance to anti-infectious agents and thus their controlled and careful use only in cases of need. The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (GATB) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are Product Development Partnerships that were created to address this market failure as donor-funded organisations seeking to deliver the medicines of the future for malaria, tuberculosis and many neglected tropical diseases. The science of drug discovery, despite the resource constraints, remains unchanged from commercial therapeutic areas and MMV, GATB and DNDi work with partners globally applying state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry and thinking to diseases that affect over 250 million symptomatic disease episodes each year. The discovery strategies in each disease will be illustrated with case studies that have progressed into clinical development.