HIV protease inhibitors vs. malaria

AIDS Treatment News, June 24, 2005 by John S. James

Researchers at San Francisco General Hospital and the Howard Hughes Institute tested seven HIV protease inhibitors in the laboratory and found that all of them have activity against Plasmodium falciparum at concentrations found in patients. The best one in their tests was Kaletra. "These findings suggest that use of HIV-1 protease inhibitors may offer clinically relevant antimalarial activity."

Comment: If protease inhibitors that were never designed or optimized for malaria can be active, it should be possible to produce much better anti-malarial drugs in this class.

Reference: Parikh S, Gut J, Istvan E, Goldberg DE, Havlier DV, and Rosenthal PJ. Antimalarial activity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease inhibitors. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. July 2005; volume 49, number 7, pages 2983-2985.