MMV Request for Proposals: 20th Call for Proposals

Medicine for Malaria Venture (MMV) with the mission to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and delivering new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. MMV welcomes proposals in the following areas of the drug discovery process:

1. Drug Discovery Projects:

• Compounds having activity against Plasmodium falciparum blood stages and ideally an inability to select resistant mutants in vitro for use in treatment (TCP1) or chemoprevention (TCP1-TPP2):

1. Novel chemical series with asexual blood stage EC₅₀<500nM 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.
   • An inability to select resistant mutants in vitro after at least 60 days’ incubation with compound
   • 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 P. falciparum liver stages (TCP4) similar to that for asexual blood stages
   • A long half-life (ideally >4h in rodents) and confirmed in vivo efficacy. Compound series with very long rodent half-lives (>10h) are of particular interest.
2. For advanced series, we are seeking novel compounds with, ideally, a predicted human half-life >100h and a predicted oral single human dose <500mg.

• Compounds addressing the key priorities of the malaria eradication agenda (TCP3 and TCP6): Novel families of molecules in the hit-to-lead or lead optimization stages, without G6PD deficiency liabilities that either:
  • kill or reactivate hypnozoites for use as part of a P. vivax radical cure; or  
  • have oral endectocide activity suggesting human single monthly dose <100mgs

2. Compounds for Target Identification:

MMV is a founder member of the Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA). MalDA, a consortium funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led by Prof. Elizabeth Winzeler (UCSD), is working on a project to identify mechanisms of action of antimalarial compounds having phenotypic activity.  Compounds can be considered for such target identification activities provided that the following criteria are met:

• Plasmodium whole cell EC₅₀ <1uM and the chemical structure can be shared
• At least 10mgs of compound can be provided to the consortium

Read more here. 

Proposals deadline March 25, 2022.