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Taking on neglected diseases
News in perspective
ALFREDO CALIZ/PANOS
Upfront– TAKING ON NEGLECTED DISEASES They kill millions of people each year – and get away with it. Tropical diseases account for about 12 per cent of global sickness, yet only 1.3 per cent of all drugs developed between 1975 and 2004 were for treating these infections. Last week, scientists from 34 nations met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the problem. “These diseases are neglected because the market-driven drug R&D system that predominates in the developed world neglects the needs of the patients in the developing world,” says Ann-Marie Sevcsik of the Genevabased Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). The diseases, such as sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and malaria, tend to affect the poorest and most powerless in rural and deprived urban areas of developing countries. At the meeting, delegates resolved to ensure that two potential drugs for sleeping sickness enter preclinical trials by 2008, as part of broader goal to
develop six to eight new field-relevant treatments for neglected diseases by 2014. To meet these goals, support from drug companies and aid agencies will be vital, such as the $100 million that the US Agency for International Development last week committed to neglected diseases. However, it is also crucial to draw on local experience, says Monique Wasunna, DNDi’s Africa coordinator and chair of the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform. “The greatest challenge to healthcare in the developing world is the ability to develop tools of modern science that are adapted to the socioeconomic conditions of patients in the developing world,” Wasunna says. For example, DNDi will soon distribute a new artemisinin-based drug for chloroquine-resistant malaria that involves taking a single tablet just once every three days. Such fixed-dosed therapies should make it much simpler to get patients to finish their treatment.
in a far more powerful greenhouse gas, called HFC134a. Just one molecule has a warming effect more than a thousand times that of a molecule of CO2. Since the ban on the chemically related CFCs, HFC134a
Tough times
–Mosquito nets are not enough–
Of life and death WHEN is an embryo dead? Is it: a) when it stops growing but still contains cells that could possibly be revived; or b) when it has absolutely no signs of life? The answer is important because it could decide whether a new source of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is deemed
“The question could decide whether human embryonic stem cells can be used” ethically acceptable. Although these cells have huge potential, with their ability to turn into any cell type in the body, some people oppose their use because until now, their only source has been human embryos. Now, Miodrag Stojkovic at the Prince Felipe Research Centre in Valencia, Spain, and his colleagues say they have successfully extracted hESCs from embryos he classes as lifeless. They obtained a single line of hESCs from 6 | NewScientist | 30 September 2006
13 “arrested” embryos, which “do not resume cell division and cannot be said to be live”, writes Stojkovic in Stem Cells (DOI: 10.1634/stemcells.2006-0377). But not everyone thinks the embryos were actually dead. “They are arrested, but still metabolically active,” says Stephen Minger of King’s College London. “So technically they’re still alive, and to spin it bio-politically as an ethical source of hESCs is completely misleading,” he says. Stojkovic claims that his aim was not to solve the ethical dilemma, but to make the best use of all possible sources of hESCs, even those given up for dead.
Warming gas fear MOUNT Zeppelin on the Arctic island of Ny-Alesund, part of Norway, is a watchtower of climate change. Instruments on its summit consistently detect the world’s highest concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Now it is recording an alarming surge
“This gas has a warming effect on the planet more than a thousand times that of CO2” has been manufactured in ever growing quantities for use in air conditioning systems in cars and buildings. The Norwegian Institute for Air Research says concentrations of the gas above Mount Zeppelin doubled between 2001 and 2004. Manufacturers of air conditioners say their systems are designed to prevent leaks. “The rapid increase shows that whatever the industry claims, the gases are not being contained,” says Chris Rose of the Multisectoral Initiative on Potent Industrial Greenhouse Gases, based in London.
“THE Food and Drug Administration is probably seeing some of its worst days ever,” says Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington DC, and a member of the Coalition for a Stronger FDA. The coalition, which is composed of patient, consumer and professional groups, was formed on Monday, three days after a report by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in Washington DC found serious faults with the agency responsible for evaluating the safety of prescription drugs. The main concerns raised by the report were underfunding, a lack of clear regulatory authority, and a scarcity of follow-up studies on approved prescription drugs. It called for a host of reforms,
“The main concerns included underfunding and a lack of clear regulatory authority” www.newscientist.com
ALFREDO CALIZ/PANOS
Upfront– TAKING ON NEGLECTED DISEASES They kill millions of people each year – and get away with it. Tropical diseases account for about 12 per cent of global sickness, yet only 1.3 per cent of all drugs developed between 1975 and 2004 were for treating these infections. Last week, scientists from 34 nations met in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the problem. “These diseases are neglected because the market-driven drug R&D system that predominates in the developed world neglects the needs of the patients in the developing world,” says Ann-Marie Sevcsik of the Genevabased Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). The diseases, such as sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and malaria, tend to affect the poorest and most powerless in rural and deprived urban areas of developing countries. At the meeting, delegates resolved to ensure that two potential drugs for sleeping sickness enter preclinical trials by 2008, as part of broader goal to
develop six to eight new field-relevant treatments for neglected diseases by 2014. To meet these goals, support from drug companies and aid agencies will be vital, such as the $100 million that the US Agency for International Development last week committed to neglected diseases. However, it is also crucial to draw on local experience, says Monique Wasunna, DNDi’s Africa coordinator and chair of the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform. “The greatest challenge to healthcare in the developing world is the ability to develop tools of modern science that are adapted to the socioeconomic conditions of patients in the developing world,” Wasunna says. For example, DNDi will soon distribute a new artemisinin-based drug for chloroquine-resistant malaria that involves taking a single tablet just once every three days. Such fixed-dosed therapies should make it much simpler to get patients to finish their treatment.
in a far more powerful greenhouse gas, called HFC134a. Just one molecule has a warming effect more than a thousand times that of a molecule of CO2. Since the ban on the chemically related CFCs, HFC134a
Tough times
–Mosquito nets are not enough–
Of life and death WHEN is an embryo dead? Is it: a) when it stops growing but still contains cells that could possibly be revived; or b) when it has absolutely no signs of life? The answer is important because it could decide whether a new source of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is deemed
“The question could decide whether human embryonic stem cells can be used” ethically acceptable. Although these cells have huge potential, with their ability to turn into any cell type in the body, some people oppose their use because until now, their only source has been human embryos. Now, Miodrag Stojkovic at the Prince Felipe Research Centre in Valencia, Spain, and his colleagues say they have successfully extracted hESCs from embryos he classes as lifeless. They obtained a single line of hESCs from 6 | NewScientist | 30 September 2006
13 “arrested” embryos, which “do not resume cell division and cannot be said to be live”, writes Stojkovic in Stem Cells (DOI: 10.1634/stemcells.2006-0377). But not everyone thinks the embryos were actually dead. “They are arrested, but still metabolically active,” says Stephen Minger of King’s College London. “So technically they’re still alive, and to spin it bio-politically as an ethical source of hESCs is completely misleading,” he says. Stojkovic claims that his aim was not to solve the ethical dilemma, but to make the best use of all possible sources of hESCs, even those given up for dead.
Warming gas fear MOUNT Zeppelin on the Arctic island of Ny-Alesund, part of Norway, is a watchtower of climate change. Instruments on its summit consistently detect the world’s highest concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Now it is recording an alarming surge
“This gas has a warming effect on the planet more than a thousand times that of CO2” has been manufactured in ever growing quantities for use in air conditioning systems in cars and buildings. The Norwegian Institute for Air Research says concentrations of the gas above Mount Zeppelin doubled between 2001 and 2004. Manufacturers of air conditioners say their systems are designed to prevent leaks. “The rapid increase shows that whatever the industry claims, the gases are not being contained,” says Chris Rose of the Multisectoral Initiative on Potent Industrial Greenhouse Gases, based in London.
“THE Food and Drug Administration is probably seeing some of its worst days ever,” says Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington DC, and a member of the Coalition for a Stronger FDA. The coalition, which is composed of patient, consumer and professional groups, was formed on Monday, three days after a report by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in Washington DC found serious faults with the agency responsible for evaluating the safety of prescription drugs. The main concerns raised by the report were underfunding, a lack of clear regulatory authority, and a scarcity of follow-up studies on approved prescription drugs. It called for a host of reforms,
“The main concerns included underfunding and a lack of clear regulatory authority” www.newscientist.com