D-Pharm announces promising results with drug candidates in models of HAT and malaria

Aug 20 2013

D-Pharm Ltd., (TASE: DPRM) announced today on-line publication of promising results with its drug candidates, DP-460 and DP-b99, in models of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) and malaria. These exciting results, demonstrate the potential of D-Pharm's proprietary platform technology, Membrane Active Chelators (MAC), to address these devastating parasitic diseases.

Malaria and HAT are a major world health problem with very few therapeutic options.  Most of the available treatments are decades old and suffer from limited efficacy or undesirable side effects. For both malaria and HAT, new therapies targeting novel mechanisms and pathways are urgently needed.

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and caused by intracellular protozoan parasites from the genus Plasmodium. The trypanosomes causing HAT (commonly known as sleeping sickness), are transmitted via the tse-tse fly. Plasmodium and Trypanosoma may have unique and essential requirements for divalent metal ions which prompted this investigation. The study, performed by a team led by Dr. Dennis Grab at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Department of Pathology, revealed that two MAC drugs, DP-b99 and DP-460, were effective against these parasites and drug potency was maintained for at least 24 h. The data were published for the first time on-line in Parasitology International journal (Volume 62, 5, 2013, 461-463). While the exact mechanism of action of MACs against intracellular malaria and extracellular African trypanosome parasites has yet to determined, their potential as anti-parasitic agents warrants further investigation.