Tuo Yang, Sabine Ottilie, Eva S Istvan, Karla P Godinez-Macias, Amanda K Lukens, Beatriz Baragaña, Brice Campo, Chris Walpole, Jacquin C Niles, Kelly Chibale, Koen J Dechering , Manuel Llinás , Marcus C S Lee, Nobutaka Kato, Susan Wyllie, Case W McNamara, Francisco Javier Gamo, Jeremy Burrows, David A Fidock, Daniel E Goldberg, Ian H Gilbert, Dyann F Wirth, Elizabeth A Winzeler, Malaria Drug Accelerator Consortium.
Trends Parasitol. 2021 Feb 26:S1471-4922(21)00012-X. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.01.009. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33648890.
Abstract
The Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA) is a consortium of 15 leading scientific laboratories. The aim of MalDA is to improve and accelerate the early antimalarial drug discovery process by identifying new, essential, druggable targets. In addition, it seeks to produce early lead inhibitors that may be advanced into drug candidates suitable for preclinical development and subsequent clinical testing in humans. By sharing resources, including expertise, knowledge, materials, and reagents, the consortium strives to eliminate the structural barriers often encountered in the drug discovery process. Here we discuss the mission of the consortium and its scientific achievements, including the identification of new chemically and biologically validated targets, as well as future scientific directions.