A single dose of a drug shows potential to cure and prevent Malaria

Now, don’t just reduce the burden of the disease, but also cure it immediately with one effective dose to kill the parasite in the liver and blood stream

Researchers seem to have found a wonder drug to cure malaria in one effective dose. The Drug, DSM265, has shown the potential to kill drug-resistant malaria parasites in the blood and liver by targeting their ability to replicate. Till now, the treatment for malaria has been reactive, and helps only to reduce the burden of the disease on those infected. However, recent few cases have emerged with developed drug resistance to malaria, which is a matter of concern.

The front-line anti-malarial treatments are artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACTs, which are credited with helping to reduce the malaria burden. However, malaria strains resistant to ACTs have recently been reported in some countries including, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Laos.

As reported by IANS,

The compound, invented by an international team of researchers, including Indian-origin Pradipsinh Rathod from the University of Washington, is the first to cripple a critical protein that the malaria parasite needs to survive at different stages of its complex life cycle, the study noted.

"This is the first of a new class of molecules that is going into humans," said professor Rathod, one of the founders and leaders of this endeavour.

"DSM265 could be among the first single-dose cures for malaria, and would be used in partnership with another drug," lead author Margaret Phillips, professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the US, said.

In order to combat drug resistance, DSM265 would likely be partnered with another new drug and used as a one-dose combination therapy.

The study concluded that DSM265 appeared to be safely tolerated in non-human tests and established optimal dosing levels and length of drug effectiveness in preclinical models to estimate dosing for humans, paving the way for clinical trials.

The first clinical trial was a safety study in Australia, followed by an ongoing efficacy study in Peru to evaluate the ability to treat patients with malaria.

Additional human studies are planned, including one to test the drug as a preventive medicine, the study noted.