Swiss TPH contributed extensively to the development of fexinidazole, including through clinical trials in DRC. (Photo: Swiss TPH)
The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion of fexinidazole, the first all-oral treatment that has been shown to be efficacious for both stages of sleeping sickness. This approval is a result of clinical trials led by the non-profit research and development organization DNDi and an application submitted by Sanofi. Swiss TPH contributed extensively to the development of this novel drug. Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), is usually fatal without treatment. Transmitted by the bite of a tsetse fly, it causes neuropsychiatric symptoms; including aggression, psychosis and a debilitating disruption of sleep patterns that have given this neglected disease its name. About 65 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are at risk. Fexinidazole is the first all-oral treatment that works both for the early stage as well as the second stage of the disease in which the parasites have crossed the blood-brain barrier, causing patients to suffer from neuropsychiatric symptoms.
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