Submitted by: Kishor Wasan
The Wasan Lab, in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CIHR and iCo Therapeutics, have developed a novel tropically stable oral formulation of Amphotericin B to treat blood borne fungal infections and a devastating parasitic disease called leishmaniasis which afflicts over 350 million people worldwide. Currently this formulation has received orphan drug designation from the FDA and a US patent and is currently in clinical trials. The impact of this formulation on treating VL is significant and can help hundreds of millions of people worldwide who don’t have access to this drug or drug formulation.