Eisai, a Tokyo-based global pharmaceutical research and development company, has entered a joint development collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool where all the three parries will conduct preclinical development of a new antimalarial candidate E209, a treatment for patients resistant to artemisinin-based malaria therapy.

Eisai also entered a second joint development agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a nonprofit public-private product development partnership company. Under the deal, Eisai and MMV will aim to identify antimalarial compounds that will be effective against malaria parasites resistant to existing treatments, prevent relapse and block transmission to mosquitoes. This involves optimization of Eisai compounds that inhibit biosynthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol necessary for growth of malaria parasites and other hit molecules developed under joint collaboration of Eisai and MMV.

Both deals are funded by a grant reviewed by the Global health innovative technology fund, an international non-profit organization that aims to promote the discovery of new health technologies for eliminating infectious diseases prevalent in developing world.

Source: Eisai