The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced the winner of its 'Project of the Year' award. GlaxoSmithKline's 'Pyridone project' was chosen from among the 21 projects in MMV's portfolio for its rapid and successful progress in finding a drug candidate. The newly selected drug candidate is now moving on to pre-clinical development.
The Pyridone project is one of the four projects in the GSK/MMV 'mini-portfolio' research collaboration (agreed in June 2003), which is investigating a number of new compounds with promising anti-malarial activities. The Pyridone project was selected unanimously by MMV's Expert Scientific Advisory Committee for its rapid success in moving through lead optimization, a stage in drug discovery, which identifies candidates for development through the coordinated multidisciplinary work of chemists and biologists who prepare and evaluate hundreds of compounds.
Announcing the prize, Dr Pascoal Mocumbi, former Prime Minister of Mozambique and board member of MMV said, "GlaxoSmithKline's contribution to the healthcare of the Developing countries is well established and recognised. We are delighted that we are able to acknowledge their efforts by presenting them with this award highlighting a drug discovery project that has progressed very rapidly due to the commitment, hard work and dedication of the GSK team. This Pyridone compound has the potential to become a major weapon against drug-resistant malaria."
Pyridones are a novel class of compounds, which work by inhibiting electron transport in Plasmodia, the protozoan causative agent of malaria. They could potentially represent an advance over a related drug atovaquone, an effective antimalarial agent used in combination for mainly the prevention of malaria. The selected candidate will now undergo detailed preclinical safety assessment, chemical and pharmaceutical development which, if successful, will lead to Phase I clinical studies where the tolerability and pharmacokinetics in humans will be studied.
MMV established the 'Project of the Year' award to recognize the efforts and dedication of the project teams for the contribution they are making in the fight against malaria. The winner is selected by a committee of twelve experts in malaria and drug development.
"We are honoured to be chosen to receive this year's award. This award is more than just recognition for the team and the success of the project, it is a further proof that the model of Public-Private Partnership really works," Dr Federico Gomez de las Heras, director of the diseases of the developing world drug discovery unit at GSK.
MMV operates as a public-private partnership that seeks to discover, develop and deliver new anti-malarial drugs. It is now managing the largest portfolio of malaria drug research in history with 21 projects in different stages of development. Its 39 partners include academic institutes, biotech firms and pharmaceutical companies.
Although malaria is a curable disease if promptly diagnosed and properly treated, it is still causing more than 1 million deaths every year. Its resurgence since the late 1970's is mainly due to multi-drug resistance. The efficacy of the most commonly available treatments such as chloroquine and SP is compromised by resistance. Today, there are more cases of malaria in Africa than any time in recorded history. Beyond the human toll, malaria costs Africa at least US$12 billion in lost GDP and consumes an estimate 40 per cent of the public health spending.