Editorial pubs.acs.org/journal/aidcbc
ACS Infectious Diseases Special Issue Focused on Drug Discovery for Global Health
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Chemistry for Global Health meeting in Tres Cantos (Madrid, Spain).5 The aim of this meeting is to create a forum for discussion among scientists working in the field, facilitated by bringing key leaders and organizations to present their latest advances in the development of new therapeutics, platforms, or collaborative models against diseases of the developing world. To celebrate this event, ACS Infectious Diseases has scheduled the publication of a special issue focused on drug discovery efforts against infectious diseases affecting the developing world. Scientists and organizations working in the field are highly encouraged to submit their research article or perspective on this topic for this special issue. For details on manuscript preparation and submission, please visit the following Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/page/aidcbc/ submission/index.html. We hope this exciting special issue highlighting infectious diseases affecting the developing world will bring great interest to our readership and inspire continued drug discovery efforts.
uring the past century, seminal advances in drug and vaccine development have significantly contributed to improved quality of life of millions of humans in the developed world. However, not all areas of the world have benefited equally from these improvements, and certain diseases disproportionally affect the world’s poorest people, located primarily in tropical regions. According to the WHO, tuberculosis (TB) is still one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, affecting 10.4 million people in 2015, and 95% of TB-associated deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.1 Particularly concerning is the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains (MDR), threatening TB control strategies worldwide. Five percent of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cases are now MDR, which means they exhibit resistance to the front-line TB drugs isoniazid and rifampicin.1 Similarly, malaria disproportionally affects sub-Saharan Africa, where 90% of malaria cases occur.2 Resistance has also become a major problem and affects the primary therapeutics, artemisinin and related drugs, and insecticides commonly used as the front-line agents against the disease.2 In addition to tuberculosis and malaria, a group of 18 infectious diseases referred to as neglected tropical diseases (NTD)3 affect over a billion people living in developing countries. Enteric and diarrheal infections developed by different bacteria (shigella, ETEC, salmonella) or apicomplexas such as cryptosporidium have also received increasing attention as they cause >500,000 deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries.4 Moreover, the recent outbreaks of Zika and Ebola emphasize the continuing threat of emerging viruses. Co-infections with multiple NTDs or with NTDs and tuberculosis, malaria, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are common, which further complicates treatment and highlights the importance of addressing these major threats on global health through continued drug discovery efforts. Over the past decade, the development of new partnership models to conduct drug discovery research not based on profit (open-innovation, private−public partnerships (PPP)) has generated significant drug discovery and development momentum. Recent advances in gene-editing techniques are opening new opportunities to work on new validated targets. The development of therapeutic relevant phenotypic assays and translational PK/PD models has enabled shorter timelines for the selection of clinical candidates. Moreover, the screening of millions of compounds has led to the identification of chemical starting points with an unprecedented chemical diversity. In summary, the accumulated effort across disciplines catalyzed by the development of collaborative models between academic institutions, public sector, private companies, nongovernmental organizations, and funding agencies is opening new opportunities to discover novel therapies to control the devastating effects of these diseases. During June 18−20, 2017, the U.K. societies Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the Society of Chemistry and Industry (SCI), hosted by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), are organizing the second edition of the Medicinal © 2017 American Chemical Society
Courtney C. Aldrich,* Editor Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, 8-174 Weaver-Densford Hall, University of Minnesota, 308 Harvard Street S.E., Minneapolis, Minneosta 55455, United States
Felix Calderón,* Guest Editor
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GSK, R&D, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Center, C/Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
*E-mail:
[email protected]. *E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES http://www.who.int/tb/en/. http://www.who.int/malaria/en/. http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/diseases/en/. Kotloff, K. L., et al. (2013) Lancet 382, 209−222. bit.ly/MedicinalGlobalHealth
Received: April 10, 2017 Published: May 12, 2017 329
DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00050 ACS Infect. Dis. 2017, 3, 329−329
