| Summary: |
Antiparasitic drugs in use or in the clinical pipeline pose many challenges, as toxicity or low bioavailability. This canbe solved by encapsulation, as in AmBisome®, a liposome-based Amphotericin B formulation used in leishmaniasis[1]. Liposomal encapsulation of antimalarials has been also addressed [2,3], including by us [4]. However, highproduction & delivery costs due to liposomal instability [5] are a major hurdle for diseases endemic to [sub-]tropicallow-to-middle income countries. The Portuguese (PT) and Polish (PL) teams wish to jointly tackle this issue byaddressing alternate drug carriers. The PT team has long track record in antiparasitic drugs, and the PL team isexpert in peptide foldamers as nanocarriers. Antiparasitics produced in PT will be encapsulated in nanocarriersdeveloped in PL, and formulations thereof will be evaluated for antiparasitic action and drug release in vitro.Identification of at least two promising nanocarriers for antiparasitic drugs is expected. |