Therapeutics: An undetermined target

Cell culture and mouse studies suggest Deltyba delamanid could help treat leishmaniasis. In vitro, Deltyba inhibited the growth of Leishmania donovani promastigotes with an EC50 of 15.5 nM and in L. donovani-infected mouse macrophages, Deltyba inhibited the growth axenic and intracellular amastigotes with EC50 values of 5.4 and 86.5 nM, respectively. In a mouse model of visceral leishmaniasis, oral 50 mg/kg doses of Deltyba decreased the number of parasites in the liver compared with vehicle. Next steps include optimizing the dosage and determining the L. donovani enzyme that Deltyba targets...