Chemists at Indiana University have developed a new synthesis for the world's most useful antimalarial drug, artemisinin, giving hope that fully synthetic artemisinin might help reduce the cost of the live-saving drug in the future. Effective deployment of ACT, or artemisinin-based combination therapy, has been slow due to high production costs of artemisinin. The World Health Organization has … [Read more...]
Gates Foundation Offers USD$100K Grants for Innovative Global Health and Development Projects
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that it is accepting applications for Round 10 of its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a USD$100 million grant initiative encouraging innovation in global health and development research. Anyone with a transformative idea is invited to submit an easy, online, two page application. Grand Challenges Explorations is pleased to have … [Read more...]
Malaria Nearly Eliminated in Sri Lanka Despite Decades of Conflict
UCSF, Sri Lankan Researchers Credit Adaptability of Malaria Control Program Despite nearly three decades of conflict, Sri Lanka has succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9% since 1999 and is on track to eliminate the disease entirely by 2014. According to a paper published today in the online, open-access journal PLOS ONE, researchers from Sri Lanka’s Anti-Malaria Campaign and the UCSF … [Read more...]
Newly Sequenced Malaria Genomes Show Genetic Variability
Genetic variability revealed in malaria genomes newly sequenced by two multi-national research teams points to new challenges in efforts to eradicate the parasite, but also offers a clearer and more detailed picture of its genetic composition, providing an initial roadmap in the development of pharmaceuticals and vaccines to combat malaria. The research appears in two studies published in the … [Read more...]
Researchers ID Key Antibodies in Kenyans with Malaria Immunity
Australian scientists say they have made an important discovery in the fight against malaria. They have found that people in Africa who are immune to malaria have developed powerful natural defenses against the disease. Researchers at Melbourne's Burnet Institutewho are searching for ways to develop a vaccine believe that people in east Africa could help unlock some of the secrets of this … [Read more...]
New Anti-Malarial Drug Target
An international team of scientists have identified the first reported inhibitors of a key enzyme involved in survival of the parasite responsible for malaria. Their findings, which may provide the basis for anti-malarial drug development, are currently published in the online version of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Tropical malaria is responsible for more than 1.2 million deaths … [Read more...]
Genetically Engineered Bacteria Prevent Mosquitoes From Transmitting Malaria
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have genetically modified a bacterium commonly found in the mosquito’s midgut and found that the parasite that causes malaria in people does not survive in mosquitoes carrying the modified bacterium. The bacterium, Pantoea agglomerans, was modified to secrete proteins toxic to the malaria parasite, but the toxins do not harm the mosquito … [Read more...]
New Drug Synriam Approved to Treat Malaria in India
A new drug to treat malaria, Synriam, was launched in India by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited. The drug will provide additional options for malaria treatment as traditional drugs become increasingly ineffective against the deadly malarial parasite because of acquired resistance to available medications. Taken as a tablet once a day for three days, Synriam may be more effective, cheaper, and have … [Read more...]
Researchers Discover Proteins in Mosquitoes that Help Fight Malaria Infection
Researchers have discovered the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or … [Read more...]
President’s Malaria Initiative 2012
April 25, 2012, marks World Malaria Day, a day designated to call attention to malaria and to mobilize action to combat it. The U.S. Government, on behalf of the American people, has taken extraordinary steps to curb the spread of this preventable and curable disease. Since PMI’s launch in 2005, PMI has worked with partners in 15 high-burden countries in Africa to scale up effective malaria … [Read more...]