GSK researchers identify dual-stage antimalarials

In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers at GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) and Imperial College London identified more than 400 antimalarial compounds that block both asexual and sexual stages of the Plasmodium falciparum life cycle. The compounds could be used to treat clinical symptoms of malaria caused by the parasite while preventing transmission.

Until recently, malaria has been treated with artemisinin-based combination therapies that target P. falciparum asexual blood stages and early gametocytes, but are less effective against stage V gametocytes, which are solely responsible for malaria transmission...