May 22, 2003
UW researchers win award for research on groundbreaking class of anti-malarial drugs
The Medicines for Malaria Venture has awarded its Project of the Year Award to two researchers at the University of Washington, Dr. Wesley Van Voorhis, professor in the School of Medicine, and Dr. Michael Gelb, professor in the Department of Chemistry. Other members of the team honored by the private non-profit organization are Dr. Andrew Hamilton of Yale University and Dr. David Floyd, employed by Bristol Meyers Squibb.
Gelb and Van Voorhis are the principal investigators for a project called “Protein Farnesyltransferase (PFT) as a Target for Drug Development for Malaria.” PFT is an enzyme that is critical to cell function. Inhibiting PFT function may be helpful in the treatment of both cancer and malaria. The goal of the UW-led project is to deliver a completely new drug to treat malaria into clinical settings in the next two years.
Malaria is still a huge public health problem in the developing world. Between 300 and 500 million people are infected with malaria every year. Drug resistance to available medications is rampant and there are strains of malaria that are resistant to all known anti-malarial drugs.
The Medicine for Malaria Venture is a private non-profit group funding malaria drug discovery, development and distribution. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides about 48 percent of the funding, with additional moneys provided by public and private sources.
Medicines for Malaria Venture awards ‘Project of the Year’ to team working on groundbreaking new class of anti malarial drugs
World Economic Forum, Geneva, 18 May 2003 — The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today announced the winning team for their “Project of the Year” award. The team, made up of scientists and researchers from the Universities of Washington, Seattle, Yale and Bristol-Myers Squibb, has been working on the Protein Farnesyltransferase inhibition (Pf-PFT) project. Experts in the field think that the Pf-PFT protein is a novel target for the development of new antimalarial drugs.
The award was presented at MMV’s Annual Stakeholder’s Meeting by Jos?ar? Figueres, Managing Director of the Centre for Global Agenda at the World Economic Forum. MMV is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria through effective public-private partnership.
Announcing the prize, Dr. Simon Campbell, Former Head of Worldwide Discovery and Medicinals R&D Europe, Pfizer, and Chair of MMV ESAC said,
“MMV has built up a strong portfolio of discovery and development projects, but MMV’s Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC) unanimously agreed that the Pf-PFT project should be highlighted. The team comprises academic and industrial partners and is expected to make rapid progress in identifying new drugs for the treatment of malaria that may be effective against the widespread parasitic strains that are resistant to current medicines”.
The team has made huge progress. In the first year the project has already advanced from “lead discovery” to “lead optimization” — a process which normally takes 2 years. Animal work on efficacy, pharmacokinetic (PK), absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) and early toxicology studies are already in progress. It is hoped that compounds that can enter the pre-clinical development stage will be identified by the end of 2004 — a result, which if achieved would constitute an extremely rapid success.
“This project exemplifies perfectly how MMV’s public-private approach can facilitate drug development for malaria and other neglected diseases”, said Chris Hentschel, CEO of MMV. “The malarial programme is “Piggy-Backing” on the human-PFT inhibitors that Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is developing for cancer chemotherapy. It also illustrates the increasing contribution of genomics as a facilitator of drug research and development.”
The “Project of the Year” is selected by the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC), a group composed of 11 eminent members of the scientific community. MMV established these awards to recognize the efforts and dedication of the project teams for the work that they are doing in the fight against malaria.
About the Medicines for Malaria Venture
Medicines for Malaria Venture was officially launched on 3 November 1999 as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease endemic countries by discovering new affordable antimalarials through effective public-private partnership. MMV in its three years of operation is managing a portfolio of over 14 projects in its different stages of Drug R&D.
Medicines for Malaria Venture has received funding and support from the following organizations: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ExxonMobil Corporation, Global Forum for Health Research, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, Rockefeller Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, United Kingdom Department for International Development, World Bank, World Health Organization, Roll Back Malaria, UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), The Wellcome Trust
For more information, please visit MMV’s Website at www.mmv.org
Contact: Marion Hutt
huttm@mmv.org
Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
Route de Pr?ois 20
PO Box 1826
1215 Geneva 15
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