Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 12 The contribution grew from a recent discussion that Robert Sinskey, M.D., had with Dr. Minas Coroneo, the US patent holder for VisionBlue, who will visit the Insti- tute later this year and has pledged ongoing help with needed surgical supplies. Dr. Coroneo is professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. "We greatly appreciate your charitable spirit. There are many white and brown cataracts in Ethiopia and your and DORC's do- nation will be most helpful," said Richard Lindstrom, M.D., ASCRS Foundation chair, in acknowledging Dr. Coroneo's support, adding, "I have informed our Ethiopian sur- geon, Dr. Kefyalew, and he is very grateful for the additional support and the effort that has gone into se- curing it." "Many [people] are not aware that the original trypan compounds were synthesized by Paul Ehrlich in the early 1900s as a treatment for sleeping sickness caused by the try- panosome in Africa, where Germany had substantial colonial interests. It seems appropriate to reintroduce trypan to Africa where it may now do some good," Dr. Coroneo said. Editors' note: According to the article "The Development of Drugs for Treat- ment of Sleeping Sickness: A Historical Review," by Dietmar Steverding, published in Parasites & Vectors 2010, 3:15, in 1901 the Ger- man scientist Paul Ehrlich, who was the first to exploit the properties of dyes for the development of chemotherapies, became interested in the chemotherapy of trypanosomiasis. From 1906, the German pharmaceuti- cal company Bayer supplied French re- searchers with benzopurpurin dyes to be tested for trypanocidal activities. One blue benzopurpurin derivative, trypan blue, was found to be very effective in eliminating all trypanosomes from the blood of infected animals, but as the drug stained the skin of the animals bluish, it was unacceptable for use in patients. After much experimentation by a number of researchers, a breakthrough was developed. In 1917, after the syn- thesis and screening of more than 1,000 naphthalene ureas, the break- through came in the form of Bayer 205, later named Germanin, a colorless com- pound that cured trypanosomiasis in both experimental animals and in hu- mans. Bayer understood the political importance of Bayer 205 for the com- mercial exploitation of African colonies and offered the formula of the drug to the British government in exchange for the return of Germany's lost African ter- ritories. When the British declined the offer, Bayer refused to disclose the chemical structure of the drug. Eventu- ally, in 1924, a French pharmacist pub- lished the structure of Bayer 205. Four years later, Bayer confirmed that the pharmacist's structure was identical to that of Germanin. The drug was later renamed Suramin and is still in use in the therapy of early-stage T. b. rhode- siense sleeping sickness. EW May 2011 ASCRS•ASOA continued from page 11

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