Pafuramidine (DB289) is an experimental prodrug of the orally active metabolite DB75, a potent antiparasitic compound with anti-malarial activity used in the study of parasitic infections and sleeping sickness.

The results of this investigation suggest that DB75 inhibits mitochondrial function. Yeast cells relying upon mitochondrial metabolism for energy production are especially sensitive to DB75 [1].

In monkeys infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, treatment with oral Pafuramidine at doses of 1, 3 and 10 mg/kg for five consecutive days on the seventh day post-infection (p.i.) of early infection showed that Pafuramidine treatment benefited most of the monkeys, and at the end of the experiment all monkeys except group 1 had improved body weights and PCVs, and in some individuals parasitemia and cerebrospinal fluid parasitemia had cleared. [1]