Single-dose cure for malaria is Elsevier review's top story

The news of a possible single-dose cure for all strains of malaria not only dominated headlines worldwide following its release in August last year, but Elsevier's Malaria Nexus review voted it their most popular story of 2012.

The news detailed the discovery that a compound, MMV390048, from the aminopyridine class, has the potential to become part of a single-dose cure for all strains of malaria – and could also block transmission of the parasite from person to person.

The research was done by a collaborative team from the Medicines for Malaria Venture, based in Switzerland, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Monash University in Australia, Syngene in India and the Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3-D) at UCT, directed by founder Professor Kelly Chibale.

It was first reported in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

"We're very pleased about this announcement by Malaria Nexus," said Chibale. "We feel greatly honoured to have had our malaria clinical candidate announcement voted top story for 2012, especially considering the variety and diversity in the top ten stories listed."

Part of the Reed Elsevier group based in Amsterdam, Elsevier is a leading publisher of medical and scientific literature. It also operates in the US and the UK. Its best-known publications include journals such as The Lancet and Cell, books like Gray's Anatomy, and ScienceDirect, a collection of electronic journals.