Human and Animal Filariases Landscape, Challenges, and Control

This volume of Drug Discovery in Infectious Diseases addresses infections resulting from filarial parasites in humans and in animals. Its first part reviews the current state of diagnosis and chemotherapy, as well as the increasing resistance against available anti-filarial drugs. The second part discusses strategies and approaches for the discovery of novel drugs and looks at a range of candidates currently in development. The final part looks at alternative and supplementary approaches to combat the parasites, including vecor control and vaccination. It holistic view of the infectious diseases renders the book ideal for parasitologists as well as drug developers and public health professionals involved in combating infectious diseases.

Ronald Kaminsky is a widely-recognized expert in the discovery and development of antiparasitic drugs with an extensive history of research on trypanosomiasis in Africa and Switzerland. He served as Head of Parasitology Research at Novartis Animal Health from 2006-2014 and is currently a consultant for antiparasitic drug discovery in the animal health sector. Dr. Kaminsky has authored more than 100 publications and received numerous awards during his career in academia and industry.

Timothy Geary is Director of the Institute of Parasitology at McGill University and a Tier I Canada Research Chair. Prior to joining the faculty at McGill in 2005, he spent 20 years in parasitology research in the animal health industry (Upjohn/Pharmacia/Pfizer). The author of more than 225 publications in the pharmacology of antiparasitic drugs and drug discovery and development, Prof. Geary serves as a consultant to many animal health companies and other organizations.

Paul M. Selzer studied Biology, Parasitology, and Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen, Germany, where he also received his PhD in Biochemistry. He spent three years at the Molecular Design Institute and the Tropical Disease Research Laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. During his career he has worked as a researcher and scientific manager for several pharmaceutical companies, and is currently holding a management position in antiparasitic drug discovery at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health. He is also a visiting professor at the Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry of the University of Tübingen, DE and an honorary professor of the Department of Infection, Immunity, and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow, UK.

PART I: Background, Status and Gaps
Filariae as organisms (including life cycles)
Human filariasis - disease and current problems
Canine filariasis (heartworm) - disease and current problems/gaps
diagnosis of human filarial infections
diagnosis of canine filarial infections
Antifilarial chemotherapy: current options (human section)
Antifilarial chemotherapy: current options (veterinary section)
Current products
Current antifilarial drug - mode of action
Drug resistance in canine filarial chemotherapy
Eradication/elimination of human filariae
The economic impact of human filariasis
The economic impact of canine filariasis

PART II: Antifilarial Drug Discovery and Development
Product profiles of new antifilarial drugs -
Discovery and development of new antifilarial drugs (in vitro assays)
Rodent models for the discovery of new antifilarial drugs
Discovery and development of new canine antifilarial drugs (in vivo assays)
Discovery and development of new human antifilarial drugs (in vivo assays)
The drug pipeline, including triple combination therapy, moxidectin, emodepside, TylaMac, auranofin

PART III: Alternative Approaches
Functional genomics of filariae
Vector control approaches: humans
Vector control approaches: canine
Drug targets at the host-parasite interface
Endosymbionts as targets
Vaccines: progress and prospects