Design and Development of Multitarget Metal-Based Therapeutics for Malaria

The development of effective antimalarial drugs remains an urgent global health priority. Although current malaria treatment largely relies on artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance threaten their effectiveness. In this presentation, I will discuss the recent progress of our ongoing work to improve the efficacy of antimalarial drugs. Our strategy involves incorporating the transition metals into drug structures to produce metal-based antiparasitic agents. I will also present our new “three-in-one” approach to antimalarial drug development, whereby a transition metal simultaneously coordinates two clinically used antimalarial drugs to form a single chemical entity. These multitarget metallic hybrids have been evaluated in vitro and in vivo and demonstrating activity against both the sexual and asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Acting on multiple essential pathways simultaneously, at the same time, these compounds emerge as promising metallodrug candidates for malaria treatment, prevention, and transmission-blocking strategies.