Research & Development
Discovery of Novel Drugs for the Treatment of Parasitic Diseases
Epichem
is involved in a collaborative research project with the world renowned
Parasitology
Group at Murdoch University and the Centre
for Drug Candidate Optimisation at Monash Univesity. The project, which
is funded by the Drugs for
Neglected Diseases initiative, aims to find new drugs to treat trypanosomiasis.
The two common forms of this disease, African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping
sickness) and American trypanosomiasis (Chagas' disease), affect the lives
of millions of people and are responsible for an enormous level of death
and suffering throughout the world, particularly in poorer communities.
The project has already resulted in a range of novel compounds with exciting activity against a number of parasitic diseases including trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and cryptosporidiosis, and is currently in the process of converting these exciting leads into drug candidates.
It is hoped that the success of this project will result in its expansion to cover two other important parasitic diseases, schistosomiasis and filariasis.

Epichem Pty Ltd provides highly specialised synthetic and medicinal chemistry services to the global drug discovery and pharmaceutical industries.