New treatment for Malaria - Part 2

They could protect mice from infection with the rodent malaria Plasmodium c. chabaudi, providing strong evidence that these malaria enzymes are targets at which new anti-malarial drugs can be developed. The new compound reduced parasite burden by 92 per cent compared to controls and showed no toxicity. Under the same setting, this proved better than chloroquine (a leading anti-malarial drug on the market) which had an 85 per cent reduction in parasite burden.

Up to 3 billion people (48 per cent of the world's population) now live in areas at risk of malaria. The annual death toll, predominately children, is estimated to be between 2-3 million. While an effective vaccine is the 'holy grail' of malaria research it is still many years away, and with the declining effectiveness of many current anti-malarial agents and increasing insecticide resistance in the vector population, there is a pressing need to discover and develop new drug treatments.

Development and marketing of such a drug for malaria could be big relief for countries like India, where the disease has a major prevalence and impact. Malaria is predominantly seen in countries of Africa and South-East Asia. It is a major threat to the high population in those areas. Let us hope the drug may prove the fitness and come to the Indian market very soon to help the malarial patients.