SusDrugs4VBD

Vector-borne diseases (VBD) are caused by parasites, bacteria, or viruses and account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases, causing more than 700.000 deaths annually.

Leishmaniasis, malaria and trypanosomiases are the most popular and debilitating VBDs worldwide, affecting more than one billion of the poorest people in the globe. According to the WHO, every year more than one million people die from complications from African trypanosomiasis (HAT), American trypanosomiasis [Chagas disease (CD)] and leishmaniasis.

The existing medications for these parasitic VBDs suffer from a variety of problems including serious side effects, the requirement of long-term and expensive treatment, few therapeutic options and the development of parasite resistance. Thus, new drugs for these diseases are urgently needed. In addition, the impact of pharmaceutics and their R&D process on the environment is high and it is responsible for huge economic loss due to soil and water contamination that affects human and animal health, generating drug resistance problems.

SusDrugs4VBD aims to develop new therapeutic modalities for leishmaniasis and HAT employing sustainable chemical methods and cutting-edge approaches in drug discovery. Furthermore, the ecotoxicity of the new potential drugs will be assessed to reduce the burden on animals and ecosystems according to the One Health concept.

Thus, SusDrugs4VBD aims at addressing the major limitations of current therapeutic interventions for VBDs by developing

a) novel heterocyclic bioisosteric derivatives of miltefosine and

b) multitarget selective proteasome inhibitors with favorable profile of oral activity against Leishmaniasis and/or HAT, through a synergistic combination of organic and medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology and ecotoxicology.