Eisai Co., Ltd. has entered into two joint research agreements for the development of new antimalarial medicines.

The first of these agreements is a joint development programme with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK and the University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. Under this agreement, the three parties will conduct preclinical development of a new antimalarial candidate compound E209. Research so far has shown that E209 is rapidly acting and shows efficacy against all types of malaria parasites, which means that it could be effective in patients for whom artemisinin-based malaria treatments are ineffective due to resistance.

The second agreement is a joint development programme with the non-profit public-private product development partnership Medicines for Malaria Venture (Location: Geneva, Switzerland, MMV). Under this agreement, Eisai and MMV aim to ultimately identify antimalarial candidate compounds with novel mechanisms of action that will be effective against malaria parasites resistant to existing treatments, as well as prevent relapse and block transmission to mosquitoes. This involves the optimization of compounds developed by Eisai that inhibit the biosynthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) necessary for the growth of malaria parasites, and of a hit series of compounds identified from Eisai’s compound library through joint research with MMV.

Malaria is a deadly disease caused by malaria parasites that are transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. According to the World Health Organization, in 2013 alone, the disease infected approximately 198 million people and led to an estimated 580,000 deaths, mostly among African children. Currently, treatment for malaria combines rapidly-acting artemisinins with lumefantrine and other antimalarials for durability. However, in recent years, there have been reports of strains of malaria resistant to artemisinin. Therefore, the highest priority for researchers is to develop a Single Exposure Radical Cure and Prophylaxis (SERCaP), a single dose drug that would cure patients after one exposure and provide substantial post-treatment protection from relapse as well as block transmission to mosquitoes.

Each of these unique projects was awarded a grant after review by the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), an international non-profit organization that aims to promote the discovery of new health technologies for eliminating infectious diseases prevalent in developing world.

Under its human health care (hhc) philosophy, Eisai is determined to be proactive in improving access to medicines worldwide through partnerships with governments, international organisations, and other non-profit private-sector organisations. Eisai is also actively engaged in several other research collaborations with Brazil’s national research agency Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital / MMV, and the Broad Institute to discover and develop new medicines for the treatment of malaria. Through these collaborations, Eisai aims to make new treatments available as early as possible to patients with malaria and thereby further increase the healthcare benefits provided to the patients and their families.