DNDi Screening of the MMV Open Access Malaria Box for HAT, VL, and Chagas disease

The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) has made freely available a box of 400 compounds with anti-malarial activity, in a bid to catalyse research in malaria and neglected diseases. These compounds have all shown activity against the asexual blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum, and show broad structural diversity.  Half of these compounds are likely to be orally absorbed, with drug-like properties and minimum toxicity; the other 200 compounds are probe-like compounds for use as biological tools.

We have undertaken an initial screening program in collaboration with the University of Antwerp (Prof Louis Maes, Laboratory for Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene) against Trypanosoma brucei brucei and T. b. rhodesiense, T. cruzi and Leishmania infantum, the causal agents of HAT, Chagas disease and visceral leishmaniasis respectively. Compounds were screened in whole cell assays and in a cytotoxicity screen against MRC-5 cell line.  The screening results are available on the ChEMBL-NTD website.

Several active compounds against those pathogens have been identified and can serve as starting points for further development.

More information

• http://www.mmv.org/malariabox
• Click here to access the data on ChEMBL medicinal chemistry database
• Click here to read the press release