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Anna WangKate BoxmeyerJustin Jackson
Communications Officer(Investors)(Media)
Medicines for Malaria VentureParatek Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Burns McClellan
+41 (22) 799 4078+1 (617) 275-0040 x238 +1 (212) 213-0006
Paratek Pharmaceuticals and Medicines for Malaria Venture Collaborate
To Discover Novel Antimalarial Compounds
BOSTON, Mass., GENEVA, Switzerland; February 24, 2004 -- Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a non-profit foundation, have announced today that they are forming a partnership to discover new weapons to fight Plasmodium falciparum, the most common and deadly form of malaria. The project will investigate novel tetracycline derivatives which have shown activities against the malaria parasite. MMV’s grant will continue earlier efforts supported by a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research grant awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2002.
Malaria infects an estimated 300 to 500 million people around the world. Plasmodium falciparum infections in particular kill more than one million annually, mostly young children and pregnant women. Just as numerous bacterial pathogens are outwitting the latest antibiotics, so too malarial parasites are increasingly resistant to available medications.
“We have been encouraged by the progress of our program in malaria, which has identified compounds with both treatment and prophylactic potential, including against resistant strains,” said Ken Tanaka, Ph.D., Paratek’s Vice President of Research and Development. “Based on these early findings, we believe that new classes of compounds based upon the core tetracycline structure could ultimately offer a significant new weapon in the public health arsenal against malaria.”
“MMV’s mission is to encourage and support efforts with the greatest promise to address a global disease with devastating economic and social impacts. As the effectiveness of current therapies diminishes, it is ever more vital that programs such as Paratek’s seek new treatments to fill the void,” stated Dr. Christopher Hentschel, CEO of MMV. “We are pleased to provide support that will continue this momentum.”
Paratek initiated its program against malaria in 2002 as part of a broader effort to leverage its expertise in the area of tetracycline chemistry and biology towards non-antibacterial applications. In its antimalarial program, Paratek is working in close collaboration with Dr. Philip Rosenthal, Director of Pediatric Hepatology and a professor of Pediatrics and Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco.
Tetracyclines currently play an important role in the fight against malaria. According to Dr. Michael Draper, Associate Director at Paratek, “ The recent ability to chemically modify the core tetracycline nucleus is allowing us to create new classes of compounds that are more active against P. falciparum and have the potential to be safer and better tolerated than present compounds. In addition, since the current tetracylines possess broad spectrum antibacterial activity, one of the primary goals of Paratek’s antimalarial program is to develop new classes of compounds with narrow or limited antibacterial activity so that these drugs do not contribute to the greater problem of bacterial resistance.This new grant will play a key role in supporting the discovery of new compounds with these desirable attributes.”
About MMV
Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) was officially launched on 3 November 1999 as a nonprofit foundation dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease endemic countries by discovering, developing and delivering new affordable antimalarials through effective public-private partnership. These global “public goods” will be one of the fruits of such collaboration. After four years of operation, MMV is managing the largest portfolio of malaria research in history with 21 projects in different stages of drug research and development. MMV’s goal is to register one new antimalarial drug every five years with the first one before 2010. For further information please consult
About Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the discovery and development of new therapeutics that treat serious and life-threatening diseases, with a particular focus on the growing worldwide problem of antibiotic resistance. Paratek's lead programs are advancing novel compounds related to the tetracycline family that can circumvent or block bacterial resistance, as well as drugs that can prevent infection by bacteria by interfering with Multiple Adaptational Response (MAR). Out of these efforts, Paratek has discovered a new class of antibiotics, the aminomethylcyclines, that target the need for new and potent antibacterials to overcome the problem of rapidly growing bacterial resistance. The Company's lead antibiotic clinical candidate, PTK 0796 / BAY 73-7388, the first product from this class, is being developed in a collaborative partnership with Bayer HealthCare AG.
Paratek is privately held and headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, visit Paratek's website at
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