The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) has granted the PAMAfrica research consortium €21.9m over a five-year period to develop new medicines for both severe and uncomplicated malaria, designed to combat emerging resistance to the artemisinin drug.
The PAMAfrica consortium brings together a global medicines company, a not-for-profit product development partnership and leading academic institutions in Africa and Europe. Consortium leader, not-for-profit public-private partnership Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), as well as pharmaceutical company Novartis and other partners will provide an additional €22m towards the project, which will include development of the first new malaria treatment for babies under 5 kg, a new fast-acting medicine for the treatment of severe malaria and new combinations to treat drug-resistant uncomplicated malaria.
The consortium includes seven research organisations from Burkina Faso, Gabon, Germany, Mozambique, Spain and Uganda. In addition to Novartis, other pharmaceutical company partners may also join.
It will conduct three clinical trials, supporting efforts to build clinical capacity and train scientists across Africa.
"Malaria continues needlessly to take 405,000 lives a year and must remain a global and national priority in endemic countries," EDCTP executive director Dr Michael Makanga said.
"We hope our funding for PAMAfrica will contribute to the development of successful new treatments that will support malaria eradication, while supporting the development of African research capacity.”
[link url="https://www.polity.org.za/article/international-partnership-to-invest-44-mln-in-combating-drug-resistant-malaria-in-africa-2020-03-03"]Full report on the Polity site[/link]