NEW RESEARCH TO TARGET ANIMAL PARASITES

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NEW RESEARCH TO TARGET ANIMAL PARASITES
08 November 2000 - CSIRO

CSIRO scientists are to search for new weapons to fight animal diseases caused by parasites following a research agreement with Schering-Plough Animal Health. Worldwide, more than $US 2.5 billion is spent annually on chemical agents for the control of animal diseases caused by parasites and there is a need for more effective products, according to Adjunct Professor Alan Seale, Chair of CSIRO's Chemicals and Plastics Sector Advisory Committee.

"Parasites cause major diseases in animals and there is a global need for new parasiticides so that we can develop sustainable agriculture and protect the environment,"says Professor Seale.

Dr Annabelle Duncan Chief of CSIRO Molecular Science has signed a research agreement with Schering-Plough Animal Health, the worldwide animal health business of Schering-Plough Corporation. Financial details of the agreement are not being disclosed.

Dr Kevin Winzenberg, Project Leader at CSIRO, says that the aim of the project is to find new chemicals that will overcome the shortcomings of existing parasiticides.

"Many of the parasiticides currently in use are unacceptably toxic to non-target organisms, and some put an unfavourable burden on the environment," Dr Winzenberg says. "Also many parasites have developed resistance to some classes of parasiticides. This problem is similar to the antibiotic resistance problem in human health."

The researchers hope to find new parasiticides that are selectively toxic only to specific parasites, and therefore safe to all other non-target organisms in the environment. If successful, the research will provide new drug leads for use in animal health.

The project will partner CSIRO's insecticide chemistry and commercially focused Australian entomological research with Schering-Plough Animal Health's development and commercialization expertise.

CSIRO will employ and train young Australian postdoctoral research scientists to undertake part of the extensive synthetic chemistry required for this exercise, thereby maintaining and enhancing the skill bases in industrial biological and chemical research in Australia.

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