What is "fexinidazole"

n. A drug being investigated for the treatment of sleeping sickness.

Fexinidazole is an antiparasitic agent. It has activity against Trypanosoma cruzi, Tritrichomonas foetus, Trichomonas vaginalis, Entamoeba histolytica, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania donovani. The biologically relevant active metabolites in vivo are the sulfoxide and sulfone.

Fexinidazole was discovered by the German pharmaceutical company Hoechst AG, but its development as a pharmaceutical was halted in the 1980s. Fexinidazole is now being studied through a collaboration between Sanofi and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative for the treatment of Chagas disease and human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). Fexinidazole is the first drug candidate for the treatment of advanced-stage sleeping sickness in thirty years.