Projects

MMV-PDP

Identifying the next generation of medicines for the eradication of malaria: transmission blocking and relapse prevention

Completed

The MMV-PDP consortium aims to develop novel treatments to prevent relapse and block the transmission of Malaria. It brings together experts from The Netherlands and Africa, with contributions from academia, knowledge institutes, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Partners
10

partners from Europe and Africa

€8.8 M

funding from The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

About MMV-PDP

This drug discovery and development project ultimately seeks malaria medicines that target transmission and relapse – two areas of unmet medical need that are critical for the eradication agenda.

One subproject involves the so-called standard membrane feeding assay (SMFA), developed in Nijmegen, using high-throughput screening of the MMV screening deck to identify potential transmission blocking compounds. Substantial progress to date includes a class of very potent compounds (pantothenates), with the best leads being developed towards a clinical candidate.

The other subproject seeks new compounds to address infection relapse. Dormant parasites in some patients’ livers can cause new infections, sometimes years after initial infection and cure. A Dutch research group has established a unique in vitro and in vivo assay for testing compound activity against the hypnozoites, and even for exploring their relapse potential, using robust high-throughput screening.

MMV-PDP: Medicines for Malaria Venture - Product Development Partnership

Coordinating Dutch anti-Malaria efforts

Lygature is helping to drive project success, by managing a worldwide consortium of ten partners. From early 2016, a broad range of resources and support have been provided under the Lygature brand.

  • Program management and leadership. Lygature is responsible for management of the program office, where organizational aspects of the program as a whole are coordinated. In addition, Lygature coordinates consortium meetings and dissemination efforts, both within the project and to the outside world. Lygature also monitors all reporting processes between the project members and the Dutch government.
     
  • Program support. Lygature provides a custom-made IT platform for the safe exchange of data and other relevant information.   

With diverse contributions from its ten partners across the globe, the MMV-PDP consortium presents a very significant management and communication challenge. Lygature offers the broad range of skills and experience needed to facilitate progress, and plays a key role in the consortium’s efforts towards addressing two crucial unmet medical needs.

Lygature together with

Project updates


  • The MMV-PDP Consortium: progress and results of a successful five year project

    The Medicines for Malaria Venture – Product Development Partnership (MMV-PDP) is a key project under Lygature’s Global Health portfolio. Running for a five-year term between 2015-2020, the Dutch government-funded project has brought together experts from the Netherlands and Africa to find malaria medicines that target transmission and relapse – two areas of unmet medical need that are critical for the malaria eradication agenda.

    Over the course of the last five years, a robust network of public and private partners has been established, consisting of experts in the field of malaria research, parasitology, and microbiology. To drive forward the work of the consortium, valuable cross-disciplinary connections have been forged with medicinal chemistry, assay development, and high-throughput screening specialists.

    Read more

  • James Duffy

    The MMV-PDP screening project: an interview with Dr James Duffy from MMV

    Dr James Duffy is a Director of Drug Discovery at the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP) working to reduce the burden of malaria by discovering, developing and delivering new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. Together with a number of Dutch organisations and other partners, MMV was awarded a grant in 2015 from the Dutch government to support the research and development of new interventions for malaria treatment and eradication. From this, the MMV-PDP Consortium was born.

    Read the interview here.

  • Discovering compounds that block malaria transmission: an interview with Dr Koen Dechering from TropIQ Health Sciences

    To ensure the eradication of malaria, medicines need to be developed that kill parasites in all stages of life. This includes targeting the sexual stage (gametocytes) where parasites can re-infect mosquitoes and transmit the disease.

    Discovering compounds that block malaria transmission has been a key focus of the Dutch government-funded MMV-PDP Consortium – a collaboration of seven Dutch partners, working together under the leadership of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) on antimalarial drug discovery. 

    To learn more about the importance of gametocytocidal drugs and blocking transmission, we interviewed MMV-PDP project partner, Dr Koen Dechering from TropIQ Health Sciences. Koen has been involved in the MMV-PDP Consortium since its inception in 2015 and has been leading the Consortium’s transmission blocking/gametocytocidal sub-project – one of four workstreams funded by the Dutch government between 2015-2020. 

    Read the interview here.


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