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New malaria treatment promises success against increasing drug resistance
A new malaria treatment with the active ingredient ganaplazid could offer promising advances against growing drug resistance. Efficacy and approval reports.
New malaria treatment promises success against increasing drug resistance
The first new treatment for malaria in decades promises success against increasing drug resistance after Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced it is as effective as established treatments in treating the disease.
The new drug - known as GanLum - uses a completely different mechanism to fight the malaria parasite, meaning it works even if the parasite is resistant to existing treatments.
"Its novelty lies in the molecule it contains, called ganaplacide, which is completely new and different than any antimalarial drug currently used," said Michael Delves of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study but helped in the early stages of drug development.
“This means that Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, has never seen it before and therefore has no defenses against it.”
Drug-resistant malaria was first observed in Cambodia in 2008 and has recently been detected in several African countries such as Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, the WHO said.
GanLum was found to be effective in a late-stage study involving over 1,600 malaria patients from 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Novartis said in a news release on Wednesday (Nov. 12). It was administered as granules once daily for three days and cured 97.4 percent of participants, compared to an existing treatment that cured 94 percent.
transmission
The drug not only treats the symptoms of malaria, but also prevents malaria from spreading because it attacks the parasite as it prepares to transmit the disease to mosquitoes.
“Breaking the cycle of infection means we can reduce new cases of malaria and prevent the spread of drug resistance,” Delves toldSciDev.Net.
Regulatory approvals could come in about 16 months, meaning it could hit the market in 2027, according to the Medicines for Malaria venture, which developed the drug in collaboration with Novartis.
If approved, the drug would be the first new malaria treatment on the market since artemisinin-based combination therapy was introduced in 1999.
GanLum could represent the biggest advance in malaria treatment in decades, with high effectiveness against multiple forms of the parasite as well as the ability to kill resistant strains that show signs of drug resistance.”
Abdoulaye Djimdé, University of Science and Technology, Bamako, Mali
Sally Nicholas, head of vector control and therapeutics in infectious diseases at Wellcome, who was not involved in the study, said: "As the first malaria treatment with a novel mechanism since 1999, it offers real hope to vulnerable communities against drug resistance and transmission."
Growing resistance
Growing resistance to artemisinin-based treatments poses a significant threat to global malaria control efforts.
Olugbenga Mokuolu, professor of pediatrics at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria and scientific advisor on malaria at the country's Ministry of Health, agreedSciDev.Net: “Having an effective non-artemisinin therapeutic is important because it provides an additional tool as we continue to face increasing artemisinin resistance.
“This combination offers a valuable alternative within the antimalarial portfolio, particularly for regions where resistance is emerging.”
Novartis presented the study data at this year's meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Toronto, Canada.
Society president David Fidock, who leads a group of antimalarial drug resistance experts advising the WHO Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases program and was not involved in the study, praised the "innovative ways to combat drug-resistant malaria" presented at the meeting.
The new compound was first identified as potentially effective against malaria after 2.3 million molecules were screened to find drug candidates at the Novartis laboratory in San Diego, California, in collaboration with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the Wellcome Trust and the Medicines for Malaria Venture.
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