MMV 23rd Call for Proposals: Malaria Drug Discovery
Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) is calling for proposals on Malaria Drug discover, aim to foster MMV’s drug discovery pipeline.
MMV welcomes proposals in the following areas:
- Compounds having activity against all Plasmodium spp. blood stages in vitro for use in treatment (TCP1-TPP1) or chemoprevention (TCP1-TPP2). See criteria in the frontrunner templates.
- Novel chemical series or advanced compounds with asexual blood stage EC50<100nM and which have one or more of the following key features:
- A known, novel mechanism of action without cross-resistance to clinical or marketed antimalarials. Priority will be given to mechanisms that are not represented in the MMV portfolio.
- Priority will be given to compounds not allowing parasites to survive and recrudesce in vitro after at least 60 days of selection pressure under a 3xEC90 concentration of these compounds, whilst the minimal requirement is an MIR >10^7.
- Potency on early-stage gametocytes similar to that for asexual blood stages.
- Potency on stage V gametocytes (TCP5) similar to that for asexual blood stages and evidence of transmission-blocking to the mosquito.
- Potency on Anopheles and potential for oral endectocide activity.
- Potency on P. falciparum liver stages similar to that for asexual blood stages. Late liver stage activity is particularly sought if there is evidence or a hypothesis to support the potential for chemovaccination (i.e., stimulating an immune response to arrested merosomes).
- A long half-life (ideally >6h in rodents) and confirmed in vivo efficacy; compound series with very long rodent half-lives (>12h) are of particular interest.
- Compounds with potential for optimization as a LAI antimalarial drug suitable for chemoprevention with >3-month (ideally >6 month) cover above the minimum inhibitory concentration.
- Compounds should have physicochemical properties in line with those suitable for delivery as an aqueous suspension with high crystallinity (MP > 150 °C) and low solubility (< 10 µM).
- Compounds should have asexual blood stage potency (EC50 < 10 nM) and, ideally, a high Volume of Distribution Ligand Efficiency (>6).
- Compounds addressing the key priorities of the malaria elimination/ eradication agenda (TCP3):
- Novel families of molecules in the lead optimization stages, without G6PD deficiency liabilities that kill or reactivate hypnozoites for use as part of a P. vivax radical cure.
- In each of the above, where possible, example compounds in the series should have measured in vitro physical property and metabolism data, e.g., solubility, LogD, microsomal intrinsic clearance (Clint). The MMVsola tool can be used to predict a human half-life and dose.
- Innovative biology: large molecules as long-acting injectables addressing chemoprevention:
- Size: Therapeutics should have a small size compared to mAbs, ideally within the range of 15-75 kDa versus the typical >150 kDa for mAbs.
- Thermal Stability: The proposed solutions should exhibit thermal stability for more than 2 years at 4°C, eliminating the need for a cold chain.
- Specificity: Technologies should be multi-specific and highly selective against the target, ensuring precise action.
- Versatility: Potential for one product to target up to 3 lifecycle stages of the malaria parasite.
- Half-life: The half-life of the proposed therapeutic should be of minimum 6 months.
- Innovation: Solutions should provide either multi-stage activity (blood and liver stage) or activity on several epitopes of a single target.
- Interest in Oligonucleotide Technologies: Proposals that incorporate oligonucleotide technologies are also of interest.
Read here for more information.
Application deadline, 27th of February 2026 (12 noon CET).
