Jennifer Keiser is in Northern Laos to test the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of different dosages of moxidectin, a drug against parasitic worms. (Photo: Swiss TPH)
Jennifer Keiser is in Northern Laos to test the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of different dosages of moxidectin, a drug against parasitic worms. (Photo: Swiss TPH) - Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of mainly chronic infectious diseases that affect more than a billion people in tropical and subtropical countries. On the occasion of the first World NTD Day on 30 January 2020, Jennifer Keiser, Head of the Helminth Drug Development unit at Swiss TPH, talks about past achievements and current challenges in the fight against NTDs with an emphasis on parasitic worm infections. Professor Keiser, we understand that you are in Lao People's Democratic Republic right now - can you tell us what you are working on? Together with colleagues from the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute (Lao TPHI), we currently conduct a randomized trial with the drug moxidectin against Strongyloides stercoralis, a human pathogenic parasitic roundworm. We are in the Nam Bak district in the northern part of Laos. For the first time, we are testing the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of different dosages of moxidectin against this S. stercoralis infection. The first patients will be treated in the next few days and my colleague Somphou Sayasone from Lao TPHI - a long-standing partner of Swiss TPH - Daniela Hofmann, a Postdoc at Swiss TPH, and myself will join the field team for this critical phase of the trial.
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