Boron plays a key role in new sleeping sickness drug

In February, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive scientific opinion on acoziborole, the first single-dose treatment for both early and late stage sleeping sickness, paving the way for registration and distribution in sub-Saharan African countries affected by the disease. The benzoxaborole compound will become only the sixth licenced medicine to contain boron, whose chemistry is crucial to the drug’s efficacy.