Pune: NCL’s big leap in fight against MDR-malaria

PUNE: As the world races to find a suitable drug to combat Covid-19, Pune-based CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIRNCL) researchers have claimed a potential breakthrough in anti-malarial medicine research by inventing a robust drug candidate to combat multidrug-resistant (MDR) ‘Plasmodium falciparum’ strains, the parasites that cause malaria.
The new drug candidate was recently granted a world patent, CSIR-NCL researchers . The researchers involved in the study said the new compounds had shown better efficacy than the presently used anti-malarial drugs, such as chloroquine and artemisinin, against the malaria-causing parasite.
The NCL researchers, in collaboration with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnolog, New Delhi, developed the new drug candidate by combining artemisinin with other molecules.
NCL’s big leap in fight against MDR-malaria
Lead researcher Asish Bhattacharya from the Organic Chemistry Division of CSIR-NCL, Pune, told TOI, “The new compound effectively inhibits the survival of the ring-stage parasite and shows its complete clearance by cutting its food source and killing it by inhibiting falcipain-2, which is an enzyme that helps the parasite to degrade the infected human’s haemoglobin to make its own food. The discovery will contribute significantly towards the global effort to eradicate malaria. These lead compounds can be developed as effective antimalarials to prevent the spread of resistance to currently available anti-malarials.”
Bhattacharya said, “After artemisinin, no new anti-malarial drug has come into the market or is undergoing clinical trials at present worldwide. The fear is that since the parasite is very clever and can mutate in the course of years, it can develop resistance against this drug as well. We designed and synthesized a hybrid molecule of artemisinin with another molecule, which kills the parasite by cutting its food source. In this scenario, since the new drug candidate cuts off the parasite’s food source by stopping haemoglobin degradation, it also effectively undertakes complete parasite clearance. Due to its novel mode of action, it can prevent the spread of resistance,” he said.
Bhattacharya said the new candidate can be used as an effective drug to prevent resistance to current anti-malarials.