Repurposing FDA-approved drug disulfiram plus zinc supplement for treatment of parasitic infections

New drugs are urgently needed for parasitic protozoan infections and repurposing drugs is a promising approach for the drug development process. New and emerging data support the repurposing of the FDA-approved drug disulfiram along with zinc supplement as an anti-parasitic agent (Figure 1).The drug repurposing approach identifies new therapeutic uses for approved drugs outside of their original indication. Drug repurposing is an attractive alternative strategy because of the high failure rate, significant cost, and long time-consuming task for new drug discovery and development \cite{Farha_2019}. Current therapies for parasitic infections are unsatisfactory due to drug resistance, toxicity, limited treatment options, and poor efficacy \cite{De_Rycker_2018}. Therefore, new drugs are urgently needed for these infections which contribute significantly to global morbidity and mortality, and drug repurposing may help address this need.