Japan’s Eisai joins forces with UK researchers on tropical disease research

Japanese drug major Eisai (TYO: 4523) has entered a collaboration with the UK’s Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool (UoL) to identify new drugs that are effective against lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis (river blindness), both major types of the parasitic tropical disease filariasis.

Under the collaboration, Eisai will work with the non-profit LSTM to develop and implement new tools and technologies for the control and treatment of tropical diseases, and with UoL, a world-class institute that has made major contributions toward understanding the mechanisms of drug action of several classes of anti-parasitic drugs, to identify and develop novel drug candidates that efficiently eliminate the bacteria Wolbachia. Wolbachia live inside the parasitic worms, known as filariae, which cause lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.

These two filarial infectious diseases affect more than 150 million people worldwide. As filariae are dependent on Wolbachia bacteria for growth, development, reproduction and survival, the worms can be effectively eradicated by first eliminating the Wolbachia inside them.