Development of new drugs for chemoprophylaxis of malaria

When U.S. troops first encountered drug resistant malaria during the Vietnam war, the United States Army responded by establishing a malaria drug research program. In 1988, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research developed mefloquine (WR 149240) and halofantrine (WR 171669). Actually, in association with SmithKline Beecham, the WRAIR is developing tafenoquine (WR 238605), an analog of primaquine, which is expected to be effective in both preventing and treating malaria in deployed military personnel. Final phase III studies leading to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval are planned for 2000. Applied research is also carried out with the association atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone) or with azithromycin, but also with primaquine, the associations paludrine-dapsone or lapudrine-dapsone, analogs of floxacrine (WR 243251), and a guanylhydrazone (WR 182393). The future scientific directions must focus on basic and applied research for a better understanding of the modes of action and mechanisms of resistance to standard and developmental drugs. Using new techniques, the design and synthesis of new drugs would hopefully result in the development of drugs that circumvent the malaria parasites elusive mechanisms of drug resistance.