Anacor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ANAC) announced today that it has entered into a development agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to develop Anacor's compound AN3661 for the treatment of malaria.
Under the agreement, Anacor and MMV will work together on the development of AN3661 through human proof-of-concept studies. AN3661 was developed as part of a research agreement signed by the two parties in April 2010 to identify new compounds for the treatment of malaria using Anacor's boron chemistry. AN3661 is the first candidate arising out of the research agreement to move into preclinical development.
"We are pleased with the productivity of our collaboration with MMV thus far and with the extraordinary promise of AN3661," said David Perry, Chief Executive Officer of Anacor Pharmaceuticals. "We hope that the combination of our boron chemistry platform and research capabilities and MMV's funding and disease expertise will enable us to develop AN3661 into a new therapeutic to treat malaria - a disease that causes the death of up to one million people a year."
"MMV is delighted to be collaborating with Anacor on the development of AN3661, and hope that our joint efforts will take this exciting compound into human studies as quickly as possible," said Tim Wells, Chief Scientific Officer, MMV. "The malaria parasite is already showing signs of resistance to current medicines, and we urgently need to fill the malaria medicine chest with new medicines to treat the millions affected by this disease. We look forward to working closely with Anacor, putting this compound through the rigours of preclinical studies to develop a new and effective next generation antimalarial."
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