A new pill developed to treat intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate the parasitic infection that affects an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide, researchers say.
The mango-flavored pill is a combination of two existing antiparasitic drugs that, when used together, appear to be more effective at eliminating worms.
These worms are picked up through contact with food or water that has been contaminated by soil contaminated with worm eggs, and infections cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition, and anemia.
Researchers say the pill could help overcome future drug resistance problems and better manage the disease on a large scale.
The parasites, also known as soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), include whipworm and hookworm and are endemic in many developing countries where hygiene levels are poor.
Many of those affected are children and there is no other preventive treatment than better sanitation.
According to a study called “LIVE”published in the Lancet, this new pill could help the most affected countries achieve the goals set by World Health Organization to eliminate diseases.
It will be taken as a fixed dose of one pill or three tablets on consecutive days.
Researchers from eight European and African institutions say it would be an easy way to cure large numbers of people in mass treatment programs.
“It's easy to administer because it's a single pill,” says project leader Prof. Jose Munoz.
“We also hope that combining two drugs with different mechanisms of action will reduce the risk of parasites becoming drug-resistant,” says Prof. Muñoz.
Once a person is infected, the parasites take root in the people's digestive tract.
While the drug albendazole is good at treating some types of STH, it seems to become less effective at dealing with some others.
In a clinical trial involving 1,001 children between the ages of 5-18 in Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, it was found to be more effective against more types of infections when combined with the drug ivermectin.
However, the researchers said the results were inconclusive about how well the worm was treated.
Prof. Hani Elsheikha, an expert in parasitology at the University of Nottingham, said the pill could be a “significant improvement over other treatments” and could be used against a range of parasites.
“There are some challenges with existing drugs … so this could be a big, big addition.”
However, he said that while the study was “promising”, it had “some gaps”.
“We don't know if the results would be the same for adults, mature people, younger children, people in other parts of the world.”
The trial results have been submitted to regulators in Europe and Africa, with decisions expected in early 2025.
Participants are now being recruited to take part in an additional trial of 20,000 people in Kenya and Ghana.
Dr Stella Kefa, a researcher at the Kenya Institute of Medical Research who worked on the study, said the pill had “great potential to improve the health of affected communities” but that there was still “work to be done” for widespread adoption of treatment.