This technology describes a pharmacologic treatment for malaria infections that are resistant to conventional antimalarial drugs.
Currently, first-line therapy for malaria involves treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT). While this class of drugs is largely effective, parasites throughout Southeast Asia have developed resistance to these therapeutics. The threat that ACT resistance will spread to high-transmission regions makes it imperative to develop new treatment methods.
This technology is a pharmacological method of treating drug-resistant malaria. P. falciparum, the parasite that causes the most virulent form of malaria, cannot synthesize its own purine nucleotides, which are needed for cell growth and division. The technology describes multiple small molecule structures that can inhibit the purine uptake in P. falciparum in order to kill malaria parasites. The technology is advantageous in that it evades antimicrobial resistance mechanisms by targeting a different pathway than other antimalarial drugs.
This technology has been validated using in vitro cultures.
IR CU17110
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka