Developing targeted antimalarial drug leads from host defence peptide-drug conjugates

Malaria kills half a million people every year. Resistance to current antimalarial drugs is increasing and new types of drugs are urgently needed. We will develop a new class of drug by attaching developmental drug-like molecules to a selective peptide vehicle. The drug cargo will be delivered exclusively to infected cells to kill malaria parasites, leaving healthy cells unharmed. Our approach will improve activity and safety profiles to expand the range of drugs suited for clinical development.