Malaria Research & Development

The Importance of Malaria R&D

Since the discovery in 1898-1899 that malaria was transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, scientists have labored to find an effective method of treatment and control. Their efforts were challenged by the malaria parasite as it became increasingly resistant to widely-used drugs, including two inexpensive and reliable medications, chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, that had effectively treated the disease for decades. Since the early 1900s, scientists have been in pursuit of a discovery that would end their laborious quest to defeat malaria.

Current efforts to control the disease, focused primarily on intervention scale up and management measures in endemic countries, have been significantly bolstered by the establishment of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. As we move into the future, it is even more critical that these efforts rest on solid scientific ground, that current interventions are improved, and that new interventions are developed based on increased understanding of malaria transmission and evasion strategies.

R&D is required to develop much-needed drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and insecticides and to discover and apply new knowledge about malaria control. As tools for fighting malaria are rendered useless by the mosquito’s and parasite’s ability to adapt, there must be alternatives ready to replace them. The only way to be prepared for this future is to invest in research and product development now.

Malaria R&D in Action

Recent successes in malaria R&D offer evidence of how greater investment in R&D can put us ahead of the disease by providing new tools that are safe, effective and, equally important, well-suited for the less-developed countries where they are most needed. From clinical trials demonstrating that malaria vaccines are possible to the advent of powerful new drugs; malaria R&D works.

Scientific breakthroughs in malaria are made possible by the infusion of resources to push products from conceptualization to laboratories and into clinical trials that determine whether or not the products are effective. Advances are occurring in malaria research, and the science could move much faster if the support it receives were more in line with the magnitude of the challenge confronted.