Merck Serono, Medicines for Malaria Venture to co-develop antimalarial drug

Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Germany’s Merck, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) have signed an agreement as per which Merck Serono has obtained the rights to the investigational antimalarial compound DDD107498 from MMV. “This agreement strengthens our global health research program and our ongoing collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture. MMV is known worldwide for its major contribution to delivering innovative antimalarial treatments to the most vulnerable populations suffering from this disease, and at Merck Serono we share this goal,” said Luciano Rossetti, executive vice president, global head of research & development at Merck Serono.
 
DDD107498 originated from a collaboration between MMV and the University of Dundee Drug Discovery Unit, led by Prof Ian Gilbert and Dr Kevin Read. The objective of the clinical program is to demonstrate whether the investigational compound exerts activity on a number of malaria parasite lifecycle stages, and remains active in the body long enough to offer potential as a single-dose treatment against the most severe strains of malaria.
 
While development and commercialisation of the compound is under Merck Serono’s responsibility, MMV will provide expertise in the field of malaria drug development, including its clinical and delivery expertise, and provide access to its public and private sector networks in malaria-endemic countries.
 
According to the World Health Organization, there were an estimated 198 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2013, and an estimated 584,000 deaths, primarily in young children from the developing world. The launch of the not-for-profit research foundation, MMV, in 1999 and a number of collaborations and partnerships, including those with Merck Serono, has contributed to reducing the major gap in malaria R&D investment and subsequent dearth of new medicines.
 
“It is hugely encouraging to see the German pharmaceutical industry increasing their engagement in the development of novel antimalarials. The Merck Serono and MMV collaboration to develop DDD107498 is a great step. It’s a compound that offers lots of promise so I’m excited to see how it progresses,” said global malaria expert Prof Dr Peter Kremsner, Director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine at the University of Tubingen, Germany.