Malaria World this week featured the news – New drug could help fight against treatment-resistant malaria. The article referenced by Scottish researchers Brettell et al was published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and is entitled Targeting Pf CLK3 with Covalent Inhibitors: A Novel Strategy for Malaria Treatment.
In summary, the novel compounds developed inhibit the development of Plasmodium falciparum plasmodia by inhibiting the enzyme Plasmodium falciparum cyclin-dependent like protein kinase-3 (Pf CLK3), one of a family of four protein kinases with a role in the phosphorylation and assembly of components of the RNA spliceosome. The paper includes a detailed description of the chemistry including synthesis, molecular structures and an in vitro comparison of efficacy with artemisinin at inhibiting development of plasmodia.
The paper is impressive looking with detailed graphics. The research at the University of Glasgow was carried out in association with Keltic Pharma Therapeutics Ltd who are partners of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Control Malaria.
Most common malaria treatments are now generic drugs. Developing new, supposedly effective, drugs is important to the pharmaceutical industry to maximise profits.
But obviously a drug with a mechanism such as this is only going to be effective at curing malaria if the Plasmodium infections it targets are the cause of illness. If they are the clean-up crew as I and other ‘terrain theory supporters’ believe, inhibiting their development is not going to benefit the patient and may even cause harm.