Malaria cured in mice
Increasing resistance to anti-malarials, such as those based on Artemisinin, have prompted a need for new treatments. The new medicine, NIT609, has a different mechanism of action and is effective against two of the most common malarial parasites including the most dangerous species, Plasmodium falciparum.
The new medicine appears safe, offers the potential of a cure with a single oral dose and is also relatively easy to manufacture. The drug killed the blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax at low nanomolar concentrations by inhibiting protein synthesis.