VANCOUVER – Canadian and Australian scientists have developed a
new malaria treatment that has been shown effective in
increasing survival rates of severe malaria by as much as 50 per
cent. The findings, published on a recent edition of the journal
Science Translational Medicine, showed that a new class of anti-
inflammatory drugs, innate defense regulator (IDR) peptides,
prevented inflammation in the brains of mice with malaria and
improved their survival. Case fatality rates for severe malaria
remain high even in the best clinical settings because anti-
malarial drugs act against the parasite without alleviating
life-threatening inflammation that damages vital organs, the
scientists said. However, using anti-malarial treatment in
combination with IDR peptides, which was developed by Robert
Hancock and colleagues from the University of British Columbia,
could increase survival of infected mice while down-regulating
key inflammatory networks associated with fatality, the study
found. As co-author of the study,