SOUTH AFRICA-MALARIA Single-dose anti-malarial drug shows promise

Record ID: 146515

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA-MALARIA Single-dose anti-malarial drug shows promise
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SCIENTISTS WORKING IN LABORATORY AT UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN VARIOUS OF UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN/ PEOPLE WALKING VARIOUS OF PROFESSOR KELLY CHIBALE AT WORK IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KELLY CHIBALE SCIENTIST, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN, SAYING: "So what we have done in the last three year
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABUEWTXU16QBM3JYPCIG41H8T0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The University of Cape Town's (UCT) Drug Discovery and Development Centre, H3D, says tests on a potential single-dose cure for malaria are encouraging and have attracted international interest, funding, as well as attracting the contribution of scientists from around the world.
    UCT scientists say the drug kills resistant malaria parasites instantly, potentially charting a new path in the eradication of malaria.
    MMV048, the promising new compound researched by an international team led by H3D, is very potent. It was highly successful in curing malaria in pre-clinical studies and may be able to block transmission to humans and contribute to the eventual eradication of malaria.
    Kelly Chibale, a professor of organic chemistry, says the study started three years ago but has already had a major impact.
    "What we have done in the last three years since the announcement was in 2012 we have taken this to phase one human clinic trials and of course there is a long way to go, the potential that this compound offers is more than just the potential to impact Malaria control but also the potential to impact eradication because it is able to block transmission," said Chibale.
    Carried by the female anopheles mosquito, the parasites that cause malaria have perplexed scientists for generations.
    Malaria is caused by a parasite carried in the saliva of mosquitoes. Conventional treatments that rely on multiple drugs are effective but only until the parasites develop a resistance to them.
    This is the first molecule from Africa to undergo clinical trials in UCT's Phase I Clinical Trials facility.
    Since 2000, global efforts to combat malaria have succeeded in reducing the number of deaths by 47 percent. This has largely been due to the use of bed nets, indoor residual spraying and artemisinin-based combination therapies.
    "In a nut shell we have taken it to phase-one clinic trials, we have done extensive safety testing as a requirement and then thirdly we have looked at the process of manufacturing the drug on a large scale," said Chibale.
    The malaria programme is being conducted in collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a not-for-profit drug development foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. MMV048 was selected for further development by MMV's expert scientific advisory committee in July, 2012.
    Over the past three years, MMV, H3D and partners have conducted pre-clinical and extensive safety studies on the molecule, and have taken it into the first trial in humans. During this period the viability of developing a process to manufacture the drug on a large scale has also been explored and a back-up drug is being developed.
    While there have been significant reductions in the numbers of people falling ill and dying from malaria, it still kills around 600,000 a year - most of them children in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
    "This is the last line of defence against the parasite so although there has been improvement and a good outlook for the reduction in the number of deaths this could very easily swing in the other direction and the situation could actually get worse if we do not address resistance by coming up with new drugs that are able to circumvent the current drug resistance but also new drugs that offer the possibility to eradicate Malaria in the future," said Chibale.
    Chibale said H3D's successful experience in the field of malaria had attracted a range of local and global partners, as well as foreign direct investment, while scientists from the USA, Europe, India and Africa had joined the program since the breakthrough was announced. This includes five experienced senior scientists from the Western pharmaceutical industry.
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