60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals has signed a patent licence agreement with Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health, US, to progress the development and commercialisation of tafenoquine to treat and prevent babesiosis.
Caused by Babesia, a microscopic parasite, this infectious disease is spread via black-legged ticks carried by deer. It is particularly severe in the elderly and those who are immunosuppressed.
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This initiative follows the commencement of a partnership between researchers of both entities.
A 60 Degrees-sponsored randomised clinical trial is underway to evaluate tafenoquine’s safety and efficacy in treating humans with severe babesiosis.
Subject recruitment is underway at Rhode Island Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, Yale University and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The trial will compare the therapy’s effectiveness against placebo in hospitalised subjects receiving standard-of-care treatment.
60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals CEO Geoff Dow stated: “This agreement demonstrates the growing confidence 60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals, Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health have in the potential that tafenoquine is now showing as a next-generation therapeutic for babesiosis.
“If approved, tafenoquine has the potential to meet this growing unmet need. Tafenoquine also has the potential to become the first prophylaxis available for babesiosis.”
Although tafenoquine is approved in the US for malaria prophylaxis under the name Arakoda, its effectiveness for babesiosis treatment or prevention has not yet been established in the country.
Arakoda’s approved safety regimen for malaria prophylaxis has been evaluated in five separate randomised trials for up to six months.
Discovered by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, US, tafenoquine was approved for malaria prophylaxis in 2018 in the US, and also approved under the name Kodatef in Australia.
