Nanomedicine for malaria treatment

HYDERABAD: Dr Pradip Paik, Associate Professor of the School of Engineering Sciences and Technology, who is currently on an assignment as Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), has invented a new polymer-nano medicine for the treatment of Malaria, along with his research group. The benefits of the medicine was stated by the research group. “This nanomedicine is efficient in controlling the Plasmodium falciparum infection, which is the deadliest one, as the medicine has been prepared using bio-degradable, porous polymeric nanocapsules, capable of encapsulating frequently,” the research team said.

Nearly 212 million cases of Malaria are recorded globally and 4,29,000 deaths are also recorded, according to WHO statistics. New drugs and modes of treatment are being sought due to the widespread resistance against the available anti-malarial drugs. 

This new drug delivery is equipped with a ‘time-temperature clock’ module where the doses for the treatment can be precisely tuned making it quite efficient in killing the P. falciparum infection in RBCs. The medicine will now be trialed out on animals. “The medicine is in nano capsule form and we are very excited to note the results of the same so far. We are still conducting research on the capsule and are eagerly awaiting the results of the animal trial,” Dr Pradip Paik said.