Cape Town - Novartis announced on Wednesday that it was expanding its partnership with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to develop next-generation antimalarial treatment.
A statement from the Swiss-based multinational pharmaceutical company said it would lead the development of anti-malarial compound KAF156 with scientific and financial support from MMV in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Antimalarials with new mechanisms of action are needed to tackle emerging parasite resistance to current therapies.
KAF156 is one of the first antimalarial drug candidates to enter Phase IIb clinical development in more than 20 years. It acts against the two parasites responsible for the majority of malaria deaths and against both the blood and liver stages of the parasite's lifecycle.
Novartis said in a statement that the drug had the potential to provide a more convenient dosing regimen and to address the multi-drug resistance that had emerged in Southeast Asia.
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“With a child dying from malaria every two minutes and the threat of drug resistance growing year-on-year, there is a real urgency to step up global efforts to combat this disease,” said Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez.
“Partnerships and collaborations like this one with MMV are essential for the development of next generation antimalarials and accelerating efforts to eradicate this deadly disease.”
MMV's CEO Dr David Reddy, said: “This agreement marks an important milestone as MMV continues its mission to discover, develop and deliver new, effective and affordable antimalarials.”
The Novartis Malaria Initiative to drive research, development and access to novel drugs to eliminate malaria is one of the pharmaceutical industry's largest access-to-medicine programmes.
Since 2001, the initiative has delivered more than 750 million treatments without profit, including 300 million dispersible pediatric treatments, developed by Novartis in collaboration with MMV, mostly to the public sector.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY