Frontiers in anthelmintic pharmacology

Research in anthelmintic pharmacology faces a grim future. The parent field of veterinary parasitology has seemingly been devalued by governments, uni versities and the animal industry in general. Primarily due to the success of the macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics in cattle, problems caused by helm inth infections are widely perceived to be unimportant. The market for anth elmintics in other host species that are plagued by resistance, such as she ep and horses, is thought to be too small to sustain a discovery program in the animal heallth pharmaceutical industry. These attitudes are both alarm ing and foolish. The recent history of resistance to antibiotics provides m ore than adequate warning that complacency about the continued efficacy of any class of drugs for the chemotherapy of an infectious disease is folly. Parasitology remains a dominant feature of veterinary medicine and of the a nimal health industry. Investment into research on the basic and clinical p harmacology of anthelmintics is essential to ensure chemotherapeutic contro l of these organisms into the 21st century. In this article, we propose a s et of questions that should receive priority for research funding in order to bring this field into the modern era. While the specific questions are o pen for revision, we believe that organized support of a prioritized list o f research objectives could stimulate a renaissance in research in veterina ry helminthology. To accept the status quo is to surrender. (C) 1999 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.