Inaugural lecture explores promising tools to tackle drug-resistant diseases
In drug development, a “magic bullet” is a compound designed to kill disease-causing organisms without harming healthy cells. Such compounds are needed now more than ever because diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and sleeping sickness, which kill more than 10 million people each year, are becoming resistant to existing treatments.
“Many of these diseases are becoming harder to treat due to drug resistance,” said Prof Richard Beteck, research professor in synthetic medicinal chemistry at the Centre of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Sciences at the North-West University (NWU).