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Marisa Kwiatkowski Grand Valley Lanthorn It’s called the ignored killer. Malaria, a disease that has been with humans since ancient times, is one of the least recognized, yet most destructive epidemics in the world. Between 300 million to 500 million people contract malaria per year and over three million people die from it. Malaria is a protozoan infection spread by mosquitoes. It is most prevalent in wetland areas. People who contract malaria experience cycles of chills, headaches and fever. If it goes untreated, there are joint pains, vomiting and, eventually, death. Though most cases are in sub-Saharan Africa, there are over 1,200 cases per year in the United States, according the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization, created in 1948, is the United Nations specialized agency for health. According to the WHO Web site, its goal is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. “We share our knowledge on best practices,” said David Ubben, a scientific officer at Medicine for Malaria Venture, a branch of WHO. “And we make sure that the projects progress as rapidly as possible to arrive at a drug, tested to the highest international standards of safety and efficiency.” Dr. Miles Hacker, chair of the school of biomedical and health sciences at Grand Valley State University, has spent the past six years working to find a medicine that will beat malaria. The malaria parasite, spread by mosquitoes, has become resistant to many current drugs. The most widely administered drug, chloroquine, is not as effective as it used to be. Many of the malaria strains are resistant to it and the other widely-distributed drug, quinine. Hacker and his partner, Jim Bigalow, started Biomes Pharmaceuticals in1998, which has labs in Kalamazoo, Washington, D.C., at the University of Vermont and Grand Valley. Although Biomes Pharmaceuticals uses Grand Valley’s labs, the university has nothing to do with the research and does not offer funding. “I do it at Grand Valley because I believe in giving students the opportunity to do research through the company,” Hacker said. Hacker first thought of using Atrazine, an herbicide, when he read an article that compared the apicoplast of a malaria parasite to the chloroplast found in plants. “I reviewed what I knew about herbicides, which kill weeds,” Hacker said, “and I knew the most about Atrazine. I thought it could be developed to treat the disease.” Hacker previously worked for the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council. The council, which regulates the use of herbicides and insecticides in Vermont, is where he got the information about Atrazine. The nice thing about Atrazine is it has already been through extensive testing, so a lot is known about it, he said. “This means less testing on animals and lower costs,” Hacker said. “The other great thing about Atrazine is it is just as effective as the other drugs on the market, but it is much cheaper.” To fully treat an adult with malaria, Hacker estimates it would cost three cents. “The problem with that is most companies do not want to sell it because there is not a big monetary payoff,” he said. “The payoff is humanitarian.” Biomes Pharmaceuticals is now trying to get money to put Atrazine into clinical trials. They are talking right now with the United States Navy and the World Health Organization for funding. Hacker said it will be about $250,000 to put Atrazine through all of its trials. “The support we give is multifold,” Ubben said, “it is not only financial, but we engage our expertise of organization and management to make sure that the development program is the most efficient possible.” The testing of Atrazine will go through three phases. In the first phase, Atrazine will be tested in a group of human volunteers to determine the level that it is toxic to humans. Previous testing shows Atrazine to be less toxic to humans than table salt and aspirin. The second phase will treat a small number of malaria patients with the drug. The final phase involves using a large number of patients to make sure Atrazine works on many different people. As soon as the FDA approves it, Hacker said it will take about three or four years to be fully ready. It will take two years to begin testing it on people. “There has already been some interest in the development of the drug from hospitals and health institutes in Africa,” said Joel Matsco, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences, who has been working on the research with Hacker for two years. “We want to get it out there as quickly as possible.” The efforts of Biomes Pharmaceuticals mirror efforts being made around the world to decrease the effect of the malaria parasite on the general population. The World Health Organization has a program called Rollback Malaria. The goal is to cut the number of cases of malaria in half by 2010. It plans to do this by finding a more effective way to attack the hot spots for the virus and to send out more medication to treat the virus. Researchers are looking for other ways to stop malaria. Recently, researchers from the Stanford Genome Technology Center mapped out the genus or the DNA of the malaria parasite. Many scientists have said they think this will be a breakthrough. The hope is it will lead to the quicker development of a vaccine to wipe out malaria altogether. “I do not believe this is a major step forward,” Hacker said. “It may help to develop drugs, but not a vaccine.” Matsco said he agrees, but does not think a vaccine will happen soon. “Instead of regular medications, they want to make a vaccine for malaria,” Matsco said. “I think this won’t happen for awhile. The technology and innovation are not there to make it, but maybe in 15-20 years it could happen.” Hacker said he does not think Atrazine will solve the malaria problem. “This is not the cure-all of malaria,” he said. “The parasite is smarter than that. We are just trying to buy scientists some time to find a vaccine. They have already spent 30 years looking for one.” Though Hacker and Biomes Pharmaceuticals are working on getting money to do the clinical trials, research is also being done to extend the length of time Atrazine will be effective. Hacker said he hopes Atrazine will be effective for five to seven years, longer if they can figure out how it resists treatment. “We are trying to figure out exactly how Atrazine works,” Hacker said. “We think we know, but we need to be sure.” Once they figure out how Atrazine kills the parasite, Biomes Pharmaceuticals can determine how the parasite will build up resistance and find ways to slow that process. That way the drug will last longer. If a vaccine is not developed by the time Atrazine runs its course, there are other herbicides that could be tested to fight Atrazine. “Most people just don’t realize how devastating malaria is to the world,” Matsco said. “Malaria plagues all facets of the diseased individual’s life. Unfortunately, the majority of the victims live in the Third World and, for this reason, thriving countries will not have the motivation to eradicate it.” |
