On Occasion CANCHID will forward notable press releases from WHO

Sam Lanfranco, CANCHID ListMgt

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JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TO JOIN WHO
IN EFFORT TO FIND MORE EFFECTIVE ANTI-MALARIAL DRUGS
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(WHO press release 26 Oct 1999)

The impact of malaria on world health is enormous: over 1 million deaths
each year, mostly small children in Africa; in excess of 300 million
clinical cases of malaria each year causing an impact on morbidity
(quality of life) greater than that of all the other tropical parasitic
diseases put together; and, as a consequence, a major effect on economic
productivity and livelihood in malaria endemic areas of the world.

But the development of anti-malaria drugs has not kept pace with the
size of the problem and, in recognition of this, when World Health
Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland launched
the Roll Back Malaria initiative last year, one of its primary
objectives was to foster more research and development of antimalarials.

A new alliance launched today between WHO, the Japanese Ministry of
Health and Welfare (MHW) and 12 Japanese pharmaceutical companies* is a
major step in addressing this need.

        *Chugai, Daiichi, Dainippon, Eisai, Fujisawa, Sankyo, Shionogi,
         Sumitomo, Suntory, Takeda, Yamanouchi, Yoshitomi

"The Japanese pharmaceutical industry has been very successful in
discovering new molecules of potential benefit in human medicine.
Important new products have been developed successfully from these which
are now used to treat a wide range of human diseases and ailments.
However, in most cases, such molecules have not been tested for activity
against malaria parasites.," said Dr Carlos Morel, Director of WHO's
Programme on Tropical Disease Research (TDR), in Tokyo to launch the
partnership.

In the new venture, called JPMW, molecules in the chemical libraries of
the 12 Japanese pharmaceutical companies will be tested for antimalarial
activity (ability to halt the growth of malaria parasites) by the
Kitasato Institute (headed by Professor Satoshi Omura, who discovered
the anti-parasite activity of the avermectins) in a project jointly
funded by MHW and TDR. The Kitasato will also test some of the molecules
in its own libraries. Hits (positive results in the test system)
detected will be followed up by TDR and any candidate antimalarials
discovered will be developed by TDR's virtual drug development
operation.

Ten thousand molecules of diverse chemical structure will be tested over
the next five years. "The prime objective of Roll Back Malaria is to
halve the burden of malaria mortality and morbidity over the next
decade. Such a reduction should be achievable with existing tools, but a
further halving over the following decade will only be possible if new
tools, including new antimalarial drugs, are developed during this
decade. History tells us that an operation on this scale should lead to
the successful discovery and development of a new class of antimalarial
drug," said Dr Win Gutteridge, Chief of Product Research and Development
in TDR.

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For further information please contact Gregory Hartl, Health
Communications and Public Relations, WHO, Geneva, telephone: (41 22) 791
4458, fax: (41 22) 791 4858. E-mail: [log in to unmask] or Dr Yukio Sugino,
Director, JPMW Coordination Office, c/o The Kitasato Institute, tel: (81
3) 5447 2517; fax: (81 3) 5447 2518; e-mail: [log in to unmask]

All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features can be obtained on
Internet on the WHO home page http://www.who.ch