Research News

The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), launched its 5-year business plan on 25 September 2008, in conjunction with the Global Malaria Action Plan. MMV’s plan describes the new medicines it expects to launch in the next two years and details how its research and global access strategies fit into the broader global goals of malaria control and eventual eradication.

MMV’s R&D priorities in the next five years include:

• Achieving international stringent regulatory licensure for three new artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs): Coartem^® Dispersible, Eurartesim^® and Pyramax^® and provide clinical support to expand their use in special patient groups such as expectant mothers and small children.
• Accelerating the development of new treatments, including a synthetic drug that mimics the mechanism of artemisinins, that can replace ACTs if and when this class of compounds falls to resistance.
• Developing a radical cure for Plasmodium vivax and registering an artemisinin-based therapy for severe malaria.
• Expanding the drug development pipeline, including novel mechanisms of action, molecules that target the challenges of eradication – compounds that can cure malaria and prevent transmission which are synergistic with vaccine strategies.