The Institute for OneWorld Health Commemorates World Malaria Day

Announces major breakthrough in the global fight against this deadly disease

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Institute for OneWorld Health (iOWH), a non-profit drug development organization dedicated to fulfilling the promise of medicine for children in developing countries, released the following statement by the CEO Richard Chin, MD:

"The theme for today's World Malaria Day is 'Achieving Progress and Impact.' Last week, we announced a significant achievement in our fight against this neglected disease. For the past six years we have led a collaborative effort to develop semisynthetic artemisinin (ART) - an alternative source of ART, which is a key component in anti-malaria treatment. Semisynthetic artemisinin is designed to be an affordable, non-seasonal, complementary source of ART that is hoped to stabilize price volatility, alleviate shortages and meet future global demand. Last week, we announced that this initiative has successfully entered the production and distribution phase, with the goal to facilitate integration of semisynthetic ART into the supply chain by 2012.

“When we started work on this project, nearly six years ago, we knew that this would be a major challenge. Here we are today, however, ready to begin the production and distribution phase, thanks to the hard work of our team, our collaborators, and our subgrantees, as well as generous support from our funders. The toll of malaria is unacceptable. Our goal is that one day, no child will die from malaria. Providing a new and affordable source of artemisinin is a breakthrough in the global fight against malaria."

Headquartered in South San Francisco, OneWorld Health is a non-profit that discovers, develops and delivers safe, effective and affordable new medicines for vulnerable populations with infectious diseases in the developing world, with emphasis on diseases that disproportionately affect children. More information can be found here: www.oneworldhealth.org. More information about this project can be found here: http://www.oneworldhealth.org/press_releases/release/pr_1303144170.