Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and Novartis announced today that it will further expand their long-standing partnership. Novartis will lead the development of anti-malarial compound KAF156 with scientific and financial support from MMV in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This agreement sets out the terms and conditions for the development of KAF156 and its future availability to patients.
“With a child dying from malaria every two minutes and the threat of drug resistance growing year-on-year, there is a real urgency to step up global efforts to combat this disease,” said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis. “Partnerships and collaborations like this one with MMV are essential for the development of next generation anti-malarials and accelerating efforts to eradicate this deadly disease.”
KAF156 belongs to a novel class of anti-malarial molecules and is one of the first anti-malarial drug candidates to enter Phase IIb clinical development in more than 20 years. It acts against the two parasites responsible for the majority of malaria deaths (Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax) and against both the blood and liver stages of the parasite’s lifecycle. Further, it has the potential to provide a more convenient dosing regimen and to address the multidrug resistance that has emerged in five countries of the Great Mekong Sub-region (GMS). KAF156 builds on the heritage of Novartis in anti-malarial drug development and the launch in 1999 of Coartem®, the first fixed-dose Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT). ACT is the current standard of care in malaria treatment.
“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Novartis in the development of this exciting candidate anti-malarial medicine with the potential to tackle drug resistance and improve patient compliance,” said Dr. David Reddy, CEO of MMV. “As such, this agreement marks an important milestone, as MMV continues its mission to discover, develop and deliver new, effective and affordable anti-malarials to the patients who need them most.”
The Novartis Malaria Initiative is committed to drive research, development and access to novel drugs to eliminate malaria. It is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s largest access-to-medicine programs. Since 2001, the initiative has delivered more than 750 million treatments without profit, including 300 million dispersible pediatric treatments, developed by Novartis in collaboration with MMV, mostly to the public sector of malaria-endemic countries. Although preventable and treatable, malaria continues to kill a child every two minutes and threatens the lives of many more.1 It is caused by parasites transmitted to people through the bite of infected mosquitoes. A comprehensive range of interventions is required to eradicate the disease, from bed nets and spraying for prevention to diagnostics and medicines to treat the disease and block its transmission.
Sub-Saharan African Disease Burden
According to the latest WHO estimates, released in December 2015, there were 214 million cases of malaria in 2015 and 438 000 deaths.
Between 2000 and 2015, malaria incidence among populations at risk fell by 37% globally; during the same period, malaria mortality rates among populations at risk decreased by 60%. An estimated 6.2 million malaria deaths have been averted globally since 2001.
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 88% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths.
Some 15 countries – mainly in sub-Saharan Africa – account for 80% of malaria cases and 78% deaths globally. Since 2000, the decline in malaria incidence in these 15 countries (32%) has lagged behind that of other countries globally (53%).
In areas with high transmission of malaria, children under 5 are particularly susceptible to infection, illness and death; more than two thirds (70%) of all malaria deaths occur in this age group. Between 2000 and 2015, the under-5 malaria death rate fell by 65% globally, translating into an estimated 5.9 million child lives saved between 2001 and 2015.
