Repurposing Know-how for Drug Development: Case Studies from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

In pursuing novel therapeutic solutions, drug discovery and development rely on efficiently utilising existing knowledge and resources. Repurposing know-how, a strategy that capitalises on previously acquired information and expertise, has emerged as a powerful approach to accelerate drug discovery and development processes, often at a fraction of the costs of de novo developments. For 80 years, collaborating within a network of partnerships, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) has been working along a value chain from innovation to validation and application to combat poverty-related diseases.

Secreted microRNA data from the parasitic filarial nematode .

microRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of non-coding RNA species with important regulatory roles in gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. The helminth serves as model organism for research on parasitic filarial nematodes. Total RNA secreted or excreted by 1500 adult female and male over 3 weeks was isolated from culture media previously processed by differential ultracentrifugation.

Life cycle maintenance and drug-sensitivity assays for early drug discovery in Schistosoma mansoni.

Drug discovery for schistosomiasis is still limited to a handful of academic laboratories worldwide, with only a few novel antischistosomal lead compounds being actively researched. Despite recent international mobilization against the disease to stimulate and promote antischistosomal drug discovery, setting up a drug-screening flow with schistosome parasites remains challenging. Whereas numerous different protocols to obtain and cultivate schistosomes have been published, those describing the drug-screening process are scarce, and none gather together parasite cultivation and early drug discovery procedures.

Strongyloides ratti: in vitro and in vivo activity of tribendimidine.

Background: Strongyloidiasis is a truly neglected tropical disease, but its public health significance is far from being negligible. At present, only a few drugs are available for the treatment and control of strongyloidiasis.

Methodology/principal Findings: We investigated the activity of tribendimidine against third-stage larvae (L(3)) of Strongyloides ratti in vitro and against juvenile and adult stages of the parasite in vivo.

In vitro and in vivo activities of synthetic trioxolanes against major human schistosome species.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that remains of considerable public health significance in tropical and subtropical environments. Since the mainstay of schistosomiasis control is chemotherapy with a single drug, praziquantel, drug resistance is a concern. Here, we present new data on the antischistosomal properties of representative synthetic 1,2,4-trioxolanes (OZs).