[Ip-health] Press Release: GSK & MMV New Collaboration to Investigate Novel Antimalarial Compounds

[Jaya Banerji]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Embargoed until 24 January 2008, 10 am UK time



GlaxoSmithKline and Medicines for Malaria Venture Announce New
Collaboration to Investigate Novel Antimalarial Compounds



LONDON, UK and GENEVA, January 24, 2008 - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the
not-for-profit group, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), today
announced a new collaboration to identify novel drugs for the treatment
of malaria.  Research will focus on macrolide antibiotics, based on
azithromycin, which may have promise as an antimalarial treatment.
Under the new agreement, MMV will provide funding for research to be
performed at GSK.



Macrolide antibiotics are a well-established class of antimicrobial
agents that have a significant role in the treatment of infectious
diseases.  The macrolide azithromycin is known to have antibacterial
activity, but it has also shown some activity against malaria.  The
research collaboration between GSK and MMV will investigate the
potential of azithromycin-based drugs to treat drug resistant malaria.



"Existing antimalarial treatments have been an important component of
public health and have saved millions of lives.  Despite this success,
we now face the challenge of resistance to these widely used medicines,
including potential resistance to artemisinin combination therapies
(ACT)," said Dr. Timothy Wells, Chief Scientific Officer at the
Medicines for Malaria Venture.  "This collaboration with GSK capitalizes
on the company's research excellence and helps meet MMV's objective of
developing antimalarials that will retain their usefulness longer and
enable us to help vulnerable populations at risk from malaria."



"Our agreement with MMV is part of our ongoing commitment to fighting
diseases with the biggest impact on the developing world," said Dr.
Patrick Vallance, Senior Vice President, GSK Drug Discovery.  "We
recognize that innovative alliances are an important part of meeting the
challenge of treating people affected by malaria, which is why we have
been actively collaborating with MMV since 2000."



Under the terms of the agreement, MMV will provide funding in order to
advance the development of azithromycin-based treatments that may
address resistance and side effects associated with existing
antimalarial medications.  Research activities thus funded will be
performed in one or more GSK facilities world-wide under the joint
oversight of MMV and GSK.  The goal of the collaborative program is to
obtain compounds with activity against P. falciparum, no antibacterial
activity, good oral bioavailability and efficacy, and acceptable safety
properties to ultimately select drug candidates for development.



Malaria is among the world's worst communicable diseases, causing over a
million deaths each year and imposing major economic burdens on disease
endemic countries. An estimated 500 million or more clinical cases of
malaria occur every year. Malaria is a major killer disease in Africa
and a primary cause of death and poverty - undermining development in
some of the poorest countries in the world. Though the majority of the
cases and approximately 90% of the malaria deaths are found in
Sub-Saharan Africa, the disease is growing in Asia and Latin America.



Although significant treatment milestones have been achieved throughout
history to help manage malaria, antimalarial drugs, like all drugs for
infectious diseases, have a limited useful life and eventually need
replacing.  This initiative brings together funds, coordination and
management, coupled with areas of specific scientific and technical
expertise to identify potential candidates to meet the current
challenges.



###





Notes for editors



Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) is a non-profit organization
dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries
by discovering, developing and delivering well-tolerated, effective, and
affordable antimalarial drugs through effective public-private
partnerships. After seven years of operation, MMV is working with over
80 partners worldwide to manage the largest-ever portfolio of malaria
drug research with over 40 projects in different stages of research and
development.  Of these, three new artemisinin combination therapies
(ACTs) have completed phase III clinical trials and are preparing for
registration by a stringent regulatory authority. MMV's goal is to
register at least one new antimalarial before 2010 and maintain a
sustainable pipeline of antimalarials to meet the needs of the 3.2
billion people at risk from this deadly disease. For further information
please consult http://www.mmv.org



GlaxoSmithKline plc - one of the world's leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving the
quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and
live longer. For more information and the company's product development
pipeline, visit GSK at www.gsk.com.



GlaxoSmithKline has a dedicated Infectious Diseases Center of Excellence
in Drug Discovery where research into bacterial infections figures
importantly in the scope of this center, as does research on diseases
endemic in developing countries.  Where market incentives are lacking,
we engage with academia, government, and philanthropies to meet our
common responsibilities.  We have formed alliances with both the
Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Global Alliance for TB Drug
Development, and our alliance partners help to support 55 scientists
working exclusively on malaria and tuberculosis drugs.  GSK has devoted
a like number of scientists, our laboratories, and our discovery and
development experience.  We will make resulting medicines affordable to
those most in need.



Media Contacts

GlaxoSmithKline                                 Medicines for Malaria
Venture

Alice Hunt                                             Jaya Banerji

T :  +44 (0) 20 8047 5502                        T:  +41 (0) 22 799 4071

E :  alice.m.hunt@gsk.com                    E:  banerjij@mmv.org



Robin Fastenau

T: +1 919 483 7966

E: robin.e.fastenau@gsk.com





--
Content-Description: MMV Macrolide press release.doc

[ MMV Macrolide press release.doc of type application/msword deleted ]