As of 2010 the first pediatric formula of benznidazol will be available for the treatment of children with Chagas disease.

Benznidazol is the preferred and most used drug in Chagas disease treatment. Currently, there is no formulation adapted for use in young children, for which reason health professionals have to split the tablets formulated for treatment in adults so as to obtain the proper doses, and mothers have to mix the ground pills with juice or breast milk, when administered to babies.

In spite of the fact that benznidazol has been available to fight Chagas disease since the 70s in endemic countries, there is no product that can both meet the needs of those children infected and take into account their different ages and weights; always having to resort to the previously-mentioned forms of administration, with the subsequent impact on the treatment's efficacy and safety. According to specialists of the group Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), approximately 5% of those children infected die during treatment.

The development of a pediatric formulation for benznidazol will be in charge of the Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Pernambuco (Lafepe), Brazil, through an agreement with the DNDi group, an organization devoted to the development of drugs against endemic diseases in poor countries, which are not part of the product catalog of any large laboratory.

According to data of the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), with a seat at the World Health Organization, in the 21 countries where the disease is endemic, the number of people currently infected is estimated at 7,694,500 (1,448%), representing a 50% reduction in the infection rate of 1990. The annual figure of new cases due to vector-borne transmission is of 41,200 (7,775 every 100,000). The number of new cases of congenital Chagas per year is 14,385.


Source: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. (TDR).