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

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.

Commenting on the collaboration and why funders like the Dutch government should invest in early drug discovery programmes like this, Jeremy Burrows, Vice President and Head of Drug Discovery at MMV, said: “Consortia like MMV-PDP demonstrate the value of governmental investment in early drug discovery projects. There are excellent scientists within the Netherlands who have much to contribute to such a mission. We have seen this first-hand through our partners in this consortium: TropIQ’s delivery of the first antimalarial drug candidate from the Netherlands; Pivot Park Screening Centre’s outstanding high-throughput screening platforms applied for the first time to malaria; the professionalism and quality of Mercachem’s drug discovery skills; the outstanding parasitology of both TropIQ and BPRC; and the collaborative management of experienced drug hunters at Lygature.

“The Netherlands has a scientific tradition to be proud of and scientists who are committed to the fight against diseases such as malaria. Dutch funding for Dutch-led science, which together allows us to tackle global problems – that sounds like a compelling proposition to me. On behalf of the MMV-PDP consortium, I would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Dutch Government for funding our collaborative work.”

To reflect on the work of the MMV-PDP project over the last five years, we ran a series of interviews with various members of the consortium. To kick things off, we spoke with Dr James Duffy, a Director of Drug Discovery at MMV, who has been leading a high-throughput-screening project to find starting points for novel antimalarial drugs. We were also fortunate to hear from Dr Koen Dechering, CEO of TropIQ, who told us more about the consortium’s transmission blocking/gametocytocidal sub-project, which aims to identify small molecules and starting points for novel drugs to help block the spread of malaria.

We hope you enjoy these first two interviews; more will follow in the new year. To close things off for now, and as reflected by various members of the consortium, COVID-19 has highlighted the critical importance of research and development projects like MMV-PDP. We hope this 'wake-up call' will encourage governments, private industry, and philanthropists to continue to support initiatives like this and to place a greater focus on infectious diseases and global pandemic preparedness.