by Rao S, Barrett M, Dranoff G, Farady C, Gimpelewicz C, Hailu A, Jones C, Kelly J, Lazdins-Helds J, Maeser P, Mengel J, Mottram J, Mowbray C, Sacks D, Scott P, Späth G, Tarleton RL, Spector J, Diagana T. American Chemical Society Infectious Diseases 2018, doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.8b00298
Summary: New medicines have recently been developed for leishmaniasis and human African trypanosomiasis, but more work is needed to discover safe and effective therapies for patients with Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. A multi-disciplinary group of scientists and physicians was convened in order to understand the present-day challenges and opportunities relating to new medicines for Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis, and cutaneous leishmaniasis. The scope of discussion encompassed unmet medical needs, the global pipeline of preclinical drug candidates, what is known (and unknown) about parasite biology, assays, models, and the potential use of novel immunomodulatory and adjunct therapies to target disease sequelae. This paper summarizes key workshop learnings.