Provepharm Life Solutions and partner Walter Reed Army Institute of Research were selected for project focusing on anti-malaria treatment in endemic regions.

Provepharm Life Solutions, a French independent pharmaceutical and life sciences group which revitalizes known molecules, announces it has won the 2018 Prix Galien-Medstartup Award. The company was selected for its collaborative project with the Experimental Therapeutics branch (ET), Medical Research Directorate, Africa (MRD-A), and the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS, Thailand); all subsidiaries of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Maryland, US.

The project, nominated in the category ‘Best Collaboration or Partnership Leading to a Breakthrough Solution Dedicated to In-developing Countries’, focuses on field trials of new anti-malaria treatments in endemic areas. The treatment will be developed from an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) containing methylene blue (ProveBlue®). The project aims to evaluate the efficacy of this well-known API to treat malaria in Africa and Southeast Asia.

According to Michel Feraud, president of Provepharm Life Solutions Group: "The project’s main objective is the worldwide elimination of malaria, one of the world’s leading causes of death. To end this life-threatening disease, my company pledges to support this project with an economic no-gain, no-loss approach. We all believe it could mean major progress in the field of international public health."

To achieve this goal, Provepharm Life Solutions, in partnership with the WRAIR, plans to create an international consortium for malaria treatment clinical trials including a global network of malaria research laboratories.

The partners in this major project are also supported by Dr. Robert Sebbag from the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital in Paris, and former vice president - access to medicines at Sanofi.

The Prix Galien-MedStartUp Award is a joint initiative of the Galien Foundation and the International Development Agency Business France. It encourages and rewards partnerships between French and North American innovators in the field of life sciences. An internationally renowned panel of experts selected the Provepharm Life Solutions and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research joint project. The winners were announced on October 25 at a ceremony in New York City.

"We are very pleased that our collaborative project is being honored at this prestigious event that each year brings together the largest pharmaceutical groups and projects. This award shows our ability to initiate major projects in the field of international public health. We are proud to attract the interest and support of experts and opinion leaders, a distinguished sign of recognition in light of the next steps we’ll face in eliminating malaria worldwide" said Michel Feraud, CEO at Provepharm Life Solutions.