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A chemical that rid mice of malaria-causing parasites after a single oral dose may eventually become a new malaria drug if further tests in animals and people uphold the promise of early
findings. The compound, NITD609, was developed by an international team of researchers including Elizabeth A.
Winzeler, Ph.D., a grantee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
NITD609 appears to target a parasite protein that is not attacked by any existing malaria drug. A single large dose of NITD609 cured all five malaria-infected mice that received
it, while half of six mice receiving a single, smaller dose were cured of
infection. Additional tests in animals are under way and the candidate drug could enter early-stage safety testing in people later this
year, the investigators say.
Source for more
information: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2010/Pages/malariaDrug.aspx.
More information about malaria and NIAID’s research programs on the disease is available on the NIAID malaria Web portal
(MDN)
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