Sanofi and Medicines for Malaria to develop therapy

Sanofi will extend its alliance with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to jointly develop a fixed-dose combination therapy for malaria, the deadliest parasitic disease in the world. The announcement of the collaboration extension comes as Sanofi is preparing to participate in the Infectious Diseases World Summit 2015 in Boston, US.

The partnership started out as a three-year research project in May 2011 to develop drug candidates from Sanofi's compounds selected for their potential activity against malaria parasites. At each stage, the project has been evaluated by a joint Sanofi/MMV steering committee applying MMV's criteria for compound progression.

The collaboration has resulted in two potential treatments, OZ439/Piperaquine and OZ439/Ferroquine, each of which is a single, fixed-dose combination therapy, independent of artemisin. Resistance to currently used artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT) has been increasing in Southeast Asia and has created a growing concern that drug resistance could spread to Africa, where about 90 per cent of the estimated 584,000 annual deaths from malaria occur.

Extension of this collaboration will allow phase 2b trials for OZ439/Ferroquine to begin this summer. OZ439/Piperaquine is currently in a phase 2b clinical trial. At the end of phase 2b, the joint steering committee will determine if either of the two combinations meet the criteria for advancement to phase 3 trials.

"As resistance increases to current antimalarial therapies, it is critical that we innovate to improve the efficacy and convenience of antimalarial treatment," said Gary Nabel, chief scientific officer, Sanofi. "By joining the fight against infectious diseases around the world and extending the successful collaboration with MMV, we aim to stay one step ahead of this ever-changing threat and work together toward the eradication of malaria."

In addition to addressing growing treatment resistance, artemisinin-independent therapies could greatly increase healthcare professionals' ability to access and treat patients in endemic countries where compliance is a key concern. The new combination therapies would be administered in a single-dose, representing an improvement in administration over the three-day courses used for ACT therapies. The efficacy of these single-dose administrations will be evaluated and compared to ACT existing treatments.