Global health milestone: single-dose pill for sleeping sickness gains EU support

A new oral drug that could simplify treatment for sleeping sickness has received a positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), raising hopes for faster elimination of the deadly disease in Africa.

The medicine, Acoziborole Winthrop, developed by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in partnership with Sanofi, is designed to treat gambiense human African trypanosomiasis, the most common form of sleeping sickness. The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended the drug as a single-dose oral treatment of three tablets for adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older.

Sleeping sickness, transmitted by infected tsetse flies, can be fatal if untreated as the parasite eventually invades the central nervous system.

Experts say the single-dose therapy could replace longer, complex treatment regimens and support the World Health Organisation’s goal of eliminating the disease by 2030. Sanofi has pledged to donate the medicine to WHO for distribution in affected countries.