Scientists from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool have developed a new drug for malaria treatment and due to this development, the University has been awarded £1.4 from the Medical Research Council.
Malaria is a critical danger to global health. Almost three billion people are at risk of the disease and approximately half a million people face death due to this disease (especially pregnant women and kids).
The team of Liverpool has professional parasitologists and medicinal chemists who will work jointly with an international consortium that includes Malaria Venture Medicine, Milan University, and Imperial College to develop the new drug treatment.
The project of this drug discovery has a main and primary target which is the parasite Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), the pathogen that causes malaria.
Novel drugs will be developed by the team of researchers that constrain two key malarial protease enzymes known as Plasmepsins X and IX. These both are required for various stages of the parasite's life cycle which include the blood, mosquito, and liver stages of parasite development.
The activity of inhibitory has multiple stages coupled with a unique inhibition mechanism will result in a lower propensity for the development of resistance, which will make these drugs the most attractive targets for the development of drugs.
The program is led by a famous medicinal chemist Professor Paul O'Neill at the University of Liverpool. According to his statement, "Molecules have been identified by the team of Liverpool medicinal chemistry team with antimalarial potency (<1 PM) and exceptional enzymatic in vitro and have developed the strategies of medicinal chemistry that will convey a late lead for progression into an incredible oral treatment for malaria".
Almost the 7th Programme of MRC Drug Discovery is being represented due to this modern success in the last 10 years to the group of Liverpool Medical Chemistry Group and approximately £10 million funds are exceeding in this duration.
