# A more effective drug treatment regimen for Trypanosoma cruzi infection

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2020 · $226,500

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Chagas disease continues to be the highest impact parasitic disease in Latin American and
indeed a problem worldwide. Despite the availability of two, decades-old treatment options -
benznidazole and nifurtimox - most Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals remain untreated
and many of those will eventually die of complications of the disease. Among the primary
reasons for the failure of these two compounds to be more widely used is the significant rate of
adverse events and high variability in terms of efficacy. The experiments proposed in this
application are based on the hypothesis that the current intensive treatment regimen of up to 60
consecutive, twice daily doses of compound, increases the rate of adverse events while also
failing to effectively deal with parasite biology, in particular the new understanding of the role of
dormancy in T. cruzi amastigotes in drug treatment failures. Proceeding from preliminary data
documenting superior parasitological cure outcomes in mice treated less frequently but over a
longer time period, the work outlined in this proposal seeks to develop an optimized and highly
dependable treatment regimen in mice and then the use this protocol to assess treatment
outcomes in naturally infected rhesus macaques. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop
a protocol using existing, known to be effective compounds that increases the efficacy and thus
the usage of such compounds in human infection. In the current environment of limited new
clinical candidates, and the recent failure in human clinical trials of some of these candidates
(also using a 60 day intensive dosing protocol), our approach should provide the most rapid
path to the more effective treatment of T. cruzi infection in humans.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9828593
- **Project number:** 5R21AI142469-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Juan Bustamante
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $226,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-11-25 → 2021-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9828593

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9828593, A more effective drug treatment regimen for Trypanosoma cruzi infection (5R21AI142469-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9828593. Licensed CC0.

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