Lyme disease is the fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the United States, and its increased prevalence is challenging the scientific community to look for new ways to diagnose and treat this worrisome infection.
One answer is found in the discovery of novel drugs; and the breakthrough efforts taking place in this arena are the subject of a new webinar made available by Quidel Corporation, the California-based diagnostic health care manufacturer known for successfully developing rapid diagnostic health solutions.
The 90-minute webinar, available free at https://education.quidel.com/category/lyme-disease, will explain what a small molecule drug is and how it works, identify the methods used to unearth a new drug by high-throughput screening, and discuss how to recognize the complexities involved in developing a new drug for infectious disease in general. It will also provide an overview as to the current antibiotics used for treating Lyme disease and explore how powerful new drugs—novel inhibitors—can selectively target Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacterium that causes Lyme disease). The webinar is PACE-accredited and sponsored in collaboration with Global Lyme Alliance.
Conducting the webinar is Timothy Haystead, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Haystead’s current research is focused on the use of chemical biology approaches to define novel drug targets. These drug targets are focused on the treatment of hypertension, obesity, cancer, inflammatory and infectious disease. Dr. Haystead received his Ph.D. from the University of Dundee, Scotland; and he completed post-doctoral work in pharmacology at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle.
The new webinar is the latest in an ongoing series sponsored by Quidel that has featured noted scientists, researchers and physicians discussing issues surrounding the prevalence of Lyme disease in America, including ways to reduce the chances of infection, early detection and treatment options. The timing and relevance for these webinars is particularly important as Lyme disease is on the rise to record numbers with approximately 476,000 new cases annually in the United States alone.
Quidel is the diagnostic health care manufacturer behind the industry’s most rapid and reliable in-office test for Lyme disease, Sofia® 2 Lyme FIA. It is the only FDA-cleared rapid point-of-care test on the market, which provides the patient and physician with indicative results in as few as three minutes, as opposed to days, which has historically been the norm (and during which time organisms can spread and become systemic). It can be performed in the privacy of a doctor’s office or local clinic; and it is the only test that can get results from a simple finger prick of blood.
