Elsevier

Drug Discovery Today

Volume 20, Issue 10, October 2015, Pages 1265-1270
Drug Discovery Today

Review
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Supporting malaria elimination with 21st century antimalarial agent drug discovery

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2015.06.009Get rights and content
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open access

Highlights

  • To achieve malaria elimination novel treatments need to block disease transmission.

  • A new generation of antimalarial candidate drugs holds much promise.

  • KAE609 and KAF156 might possess some of the attributes of an ‘ideal’ antimalarial.

  • Large-scale trials are required to test novel antimalarial agents.

The burden of malaria has been considerably reduced over recent years. However, to achieve disease elimination, drug discovery for the next generation needs to focus on blocking disease transmission and on targeting the liver-stage forms of the parasite. Properties of the ‘ideal’ new antimalarial drug and the key scientific and technological advances that have led to recent progress in antimalarial drug discovery are reviewed. Using these advances, Novartis has built a robust pipeline of next-generation antimalarials. The preclinical and clinical development of two candidate drugs: KAE609 and KAF156, provide a framework for the path to breakthrough treatments that could be taking us a step closer to the vision of malaria elimination.

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