Researchers Develop New Malaria Drug

A new single-dose malaria drug that may treat resistant strains of the dreaded disease has been developed

A new single-dose malaria drug that may treat resistant strains of the dreaded disease has been developed by a team of researchers, according to a study published in the journal Science on Thursday.

Clinical trials are scheduled later this year and the drug is said to very promising because of its potency compared to current malarial drugs.

“We're very excited by the new compound,” said study author Elizabeth Winzeler, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute and member of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation.

Winzeler added, “It has a lot of encouraging features as a drug candidate, including an attractive safety profile and potential treatment in a single dose.”

Standard malarial treatment involves taking drugs from one to four times a day for a duration of three to seven weeks. Aside from being convenient, the new-single dose drug may prevent parasites from developing resistance to the drug.

In 2008, an estimated 247 million cases of malaria resulted to one million deaths, mostly African children, according to the World Health Organization.

The disease can be contracted from mosquito bites that transmit the parasite called Plasmodium. Symptoms include fever and vomiting, and can be fatal because it disrupts the flow of blood to vital body organs.

Plasmodium parasites have been able to generate resistance to some malarial drugs in parts of the world but it has been more than ten years since the last class of malarial drugs were introduced for wide use.

“Malaria remains a scourge,” said Mark Fishman, president of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday September 03 2010, 10:20 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0