Giving hope to malaria sufferers
Posted on 8 October 2008
Malaria remains a major global health problem, killing up to one million people every year, most of them young children. The key ingredient of the most important drugs that effectively cure this disease is artemisinin, which can only be obtained from a medicinal plant; production of the drugs is expensive, supplies unreliable and quality variable (1).
Organised under the auspices of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (2), the Artemisinin Enterprise Conference (3) will explore how three new technologies, once fully developed, can help to make these drugs more affordable and the supplies more reliable. Experts will discuss how the new drug sources can be rapidly integrated into the malaria treatment supply chain, to meet the need for over 200 million artemisinin combination treatments (ACTs) every year.
The Artemisinin Enterprise comprises three projects that are working to improve artemisinin supplies;
- The Centre for Novel Agricultural Products at the University of York (which is hosting the conference) is using fast-track plant breeding to increase medicinal plant yields.
- The Institute for One World Health is producing artemisinin through fermentation with the help of synthetic biology.
- The Medicines for Malaria Venture is developing a new class of anti-malarial compounds, similar in structure to the artemisinin molecule.
Dr Awa Coll Seck, Executive Director of the RBM Partnership, said: "We welcome new technologies that will contribute to making antimalarials affordable and streamlining their production. The scientific innovations discussed at this conference will support the Global Malaria Action Plan and save many lives. Two of them will help us scale up and sustain malaria control. The third one will help the world meet our long term aim of eliminating and eradicating malaria."
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs) are recommended by the World Health Organization – they have now been adopted as the primary treatment for malaria by 75 countries. The medicinal plant Artemisia annua is currently the sole source of artemisinin.
- The Roll Back Malaria Partnership is the global framework for mobilizing action, raising resources, forging consensus and coordinating actors in the worldwide fight against malaria.
- The Artemisinin Enterprise conference "Meeting the Malaria Treatment Challenge: Effective introduction of new technologies for a sustainable supply of ACTs" will take place in the Department of Biology, University of York October 8-10.
- More about the three projects in the Artemisinin Enterprise can be found at
www.york.ac.uk/org/cnap/artemisiaproject/index.htm
www.oneworldhealth.org/diseases/malaria.php
www.mmv.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=15