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 The Swiss drugmaker, which is working on the mid-stage Phase IIb
trial program with the group Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV),
said on Monday it believed its drug KAF156 could be a
"game-changer".
New antimalarials are badly needed to fight rising parasite
resistance. Resistance to today's gold standard treatment
artemisinin has been seen in Asia and there have also been sporadic
cases of reduced drug sensitivity in Africa.
Initial tests suggest KAF156 has the potential to rapidly clear
malaria infection, including resistant strains, as well as to block
the transmission of the mosquito-borne malaria parasite.
KAF156 belongs to a novel class of antimalarial compounds called
imidazolopiperazines. It is designed to be used in combination with
an improved formulation of the existing antimalarial lumefantrine.
The new clinical trial program is now under way at one center in
Mali and this will be followed by 16 additional centers across a
total of nine countries in Africa and Asia over the next few months.
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"To build on the gains made against malaria since the turn of the
century, we need new medicines that are effective across all types
of resistance patterns and geographies, and that are easy to
administer, especially to children," said Dr David Reddy, CEO of MMV.
Deaths from malaria have fallen sharply since 2000, thanks to the
roll-out of insecticide-treated bednets, but the World Health
Organisation estimates there were still 438,000 fatal cases in 2015,
most the them in African children.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Keith Weir)
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