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PFT INHIBITOR STUDY AWARD FROM MEDICINES FOR MALARIA :
VENTURE PROJECT OF THE YEAR

An effort to test protein farnesyltransferase (PFT) inhibitors against
malaria parasites has received the "Project of the Year Award" from the
Medicines for Malaria Venture.

The award was given May 18, 2003 at the World Economic Forum in Geneva,
Switzerland, to collaborators Wes Van Voorhis from the University of Washington
Department of Medicine, Mike Gelb of the UW Department of Chemistry,
Andrew Hamilton from Yale University, and David Floyd of Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Jose Maria Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, presented the award.

Drug companies have developed many PFT inhibitors because of their
potential for cancer treatment. Normal human cells have a backup system
that protects them when PFT is inhibited. However, malaria parasites
lack this failsafe system and die when exposed to PFT inhibitors. PFT
inhibitors hold promise as a possible new drug against malaria. Such
research is critical because some malaria strains are resistant to all
present-day drugs.

The researchers have screened more than 300 compounds known to inhibit
PFT, and now have compounds that show great promise for drug therapy for
malaria.

Other key investigators on the project are the University of Washington's
Fred Buckner, assistant professor of medicine and Christophe Verlinde,
associate professor of biological structure; Louis Lombardo, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
and Debopam Chakrabarti, University of Central Florida.

Medicines for Malaria is a private, nonprofit organization that funds
malaria drug discovery, development, and distribution. A little less
than half the funding comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
the rest is from private donors and government sources.

For more information, contact Van Voorhis at 206-543-0821, wesley@u.washington.edu

5/23/03