Under the agreement, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) will have access to the Pfizer library of novel chemical entities, in order to screen it for compounds that have the potential to be developed into new treatments for malaria.
Scientists in institutes affiliated with MMV will test approximately 200,000 compounds in the Pfizer library against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes acute malaria, including multi-drug resistant strains.
In a process called screening, researchers will seek to identify compounds that show initial activity against P falciparum, and thus might form the basis for novel drug discovery programs to treat malaria. The screening will be undertaken at the Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.
Pfizer’s existing malaria product portfolio may be augmented with the artemisinin combination therapy Eurartesim, in collaboration with sigma-tau, which is in late-stage clinical trials. Pfizer also has an ongoing azithromycin/chloroquine clinical program.
Rod MacKenzie, senior vice president of research for Pfizer global R&D, said: “We believe public-private research collaborations are vital to tackling health challenges in developing countries, and we are confident our collaboration with MMV will further aid in the search for drugs with the potential to treat malaria.”