The government Thursday approved a U.S.-manufactured drug for treating a variety of African Sleeping Sickness, a disease that afflicts 25,000 people annually. The drug, Ornidyl, was cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration and will be available by the end of the year in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the World Health Organization said in a news release. This is the first approval of the drug in any country. An estimated 50 million people in 36 countries are at risk of contracting the disease, caused by parasites transmitted by tsetse flies. There are usually fewer than 10 cases of the disease per year in the United States, but the drug each year could save 3,000 people infected with the West African variety of the sickness, the World Health Organization said. Ornidyl is known as a ``resurrection drug'' because it can cure patients who have fallen into comas from the disease, said WHO's Dr. Tore Godal. Given intravenously, Ornidyl inhibits the growth of theparasite. The drug manufactured by Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals of Cincinnati, Ohio. Other drugs used against sleeping sickness aren't effective in the late stages, when the disease reaches the central nervous system. The new drug does have a potential for anemia and, on occasion, dangerous decreases in the numbers of white blood cells and platelets in the blood, the FDA said. A warning label says blood cell count monitoring should be done twice a week.
