Jomaa Pharma and medicines for malaria venture to co-develop novel malaria treatment based on fosmidomycin

Jomaa Pharma GmbH, a German biopharmaceutical company engaged in malaria chemotherapy, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) a not-for-profit research foundation, announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint development of fosmidomycin, as a component of non-artemisinin based combination therapy (NACT), for acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Fosmidomycin is a molecule that possesses antimalarial and antibacterial activity. The stimulus for this co-development project follows reports of the emergence of artemisinin resistance on the Thai-Cambodian border 1.

“A proof of concept study of fosmidomycin in combination with piperaquine is planned to take place in Thailand later this year”, said Dr David Hutchinson, Managing Director of Jomaa Pharma GmbH. “This will be followed by Phase II studies in children and toddlers in sub-Saharan Africa. We are also collaborating with the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) to develop NACT products based on fosmidomycin under an existing grant”.

"We are very interested in working with Jomaa Pharma and the opportunity this gives us to develop fosmidomycin as a novel antimalarial agent” said Dr Tim Wells, Chief Executive Officer of MMV. “P. falciparum malaria is a potentially fatal disease and while artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have revolutionised its treatment, the spread of resistance to artemisinin could pose a major threat to its effective control and ultimate elimination”. Dr Nicholas White, as Chair of the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network recently highlighted this concern in his editorial in The Lancet “Artemisinin resistance – the clock is ticking” 2.

The prospect of overcoming this through fosmidomycin when combined with piperaquine is considered to be very promising and constitutes the basis of the partnership between Jomaa Pharma and MMV.