Curiosity killed the plasmodium

Serendipity has often been called the cause of great scientific discoveries. But as Louis Pasteur long ago realized, chance favors the prepared. Only this idea, and a fair amount of curiosity, can explain the almost improbable chain of events – including dozens of scientists and spanning three continents and lasting more than seven years – which led to the development of a novel antimalarial compound able to kill the Plasmodium falciparum parasite that causes the most dangerous form of malaria in humans. Due to its specific potency KAE609, which belongs to the spiroindolone class, may be developed into a drug that could be much more easily administered than current standard therapies against malaria, which affects more than 200 million people every year.

Text by Goran Mijuk, photos by Jan Raeber