Drugs for the control of parasitic diseases: current status and development

The control of parasitic disease requires a complex interplay of activities in the fields of public health, education, political will and medical science. For every parasitic disease, the nature of the interplay is different because the essential factors vary greatly, including: (i) the presence or absence of a vector or animal reservoir; (ii) whether the available drugs are effective, acceptable or affordable to the patient; and (iii) whether the politico-economic climate supports or retards public health measures. But, throughout the whole spectrum of parasitic infections of humans, there is a need for treatment, and the search for better drugs is a perpetual process. Advances in science, especially in the field of parasite genomics and its attendant technology, have opened up possibilities for new drugs which were unimagined just a few years ago. By contrast, the escalating costs of drug discovery programmes make research and development particularly difficult to promote and sustain in today's global economy. Of the 1223 new drugs brought to the market between 1975 and 1996, 1% (11 new compounds and two reformulations) were treatments for tropical diseases [1]. This special issue of Trends in Parasitology and the accompanying poster examine some of the developments in this fascinating field.