[Ip-health] Revised article: Calls for fast access to sleeping sickness drug

[Ann-Marie Sevcsik]

An article posted earlier on scidev.net (10 January) and allafrica.com(11 J=
anuary) misquoted DNDi, contained inaccurate information on the nifurtmox-e=
flornitine combination, and caused some concern among partners and colleagu=
es.

We would like to emphasize that we do not agree with the statements in this=
 article, which was not shown to us before being published.

Thanks to a thorough review process undertaken between DNDi and scidev.net,=
 a new, more accurate article has been reposted online:
http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/calls-for-fast-access-to-sleeping-si=
ckness-drug.cfm

Calls for fast access to sleeping sickness drug
Julie Clayton
10 January 2007
Source: SciDev.Net
Preliminary results from a sleeping sickness treatment trial have been so o=
verwhelmingly positive that doctors working in two African nations want the=
 combined medication available as soon as possible.

And more patients - beyond the number needed - are being enrolled on the tr=
ial in order to make the treatment available.
Victor Kande, director of the national control programme for the disease in=
 the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),=A0says that=A0he would like more p=
atients to benefit from the treatment by enrolling in the trial before it i=
s completed next year.

"The DRC is encouraging people to be enrolled under the ongoing clinical tr=
ials as the results to date have been so encouraging for the new treatment,=
" says Kande. "After sufficient documentation, the DRC will be ready to rec=
ommend it as a treatment accessible to all."

The trials test the effectiveness of combining two drugs, eflornithine and =
nifurtimox, against sleeping sickness. Trials began in Congo-Brazzaville an=
d have since expanded to three sites in the=A0DRC and two in Uganda.

Mid-way results, after 18 months follow-up on the first 103 patients enroll=
ed at the Congo Brazzaville site, have impressed the National Programme for=
 Sleeping Sickness Control in the DRC, who wish to increase access.

Without being enrolled in trials, patients have no access to nifurtimox as =
it is only licensed for use against Chagas disease, a related parasitic inf=
ection. As a result, extra patients are being enrolled.

According to Girardo Priotto of Doctors Without Borders, "The situation is =
so desperate in the field that we are not happy with two more years of wait=
ing for the final results of the current trial, so we are looking for ways =
of extending access to this treatment through additional studies."

Nifurtimox is donated free to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by pharma=
ceutical company Bayer. But without further scientific evidence the WHO wil=
l not agree to its use for sleeping sickness. Other studies have also suppo=
rted the use of nifurtimox-containing combination therapies for sleeping si=
ckness.

Thousands of people each year are diagnosed with advanced-stage sleeping si=
ckness, which is fatal if not treated. Current treatment, with the drug mel=
arsoprol, itself causes the death of around six per cent of patients. In ad=
dition, some patients are also resistant.