If I were to design a new antimalarial, I would probably try my luck with a quinoline derivative.
It seems that current common sense goes precisely in the opposite direction: As Chloroquine resistance is widespread then it is better to avoid quinolines altogether as the resistance mechanism would probably be the same.
Maybe the resistance mechanism is the same, but, maybe it could select in an opposite direction. Crazy idea? Actually it is not mine at all, but based on study of the spread of Mefloquine resistance. Drugs with the the same resistance mechanism but forcing selection in opposite directions could be deployed simultaneously or in interleaved periods in time.
Speculations of a pen and pencil theoretician sitting in a country where a mosquito would freeze to death in seconds (barring some sporadic cases of airport malaria in the summer).
Filed in: drug development, malaria
