Esther Vicente, PhD, a chemistry researcher at the University of Navarra, has discovered new compounds active for treating tuberculosis and malaria. Her thesis, defended at the Faculty of Sciences in Pamplona, describes the synthesis and characterization of 65 derivatives of quinoxaline, the structure of which is similar to a number of antimalalarial and antituberculosis pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market. Of the molecules prepared, four stand out for their antimalalarial activity and 15 for their antituberculosis activity.
The synthesis and characterization of the new compounds was undertaken at the Centro de Investigación de Farmacobiología Aplicada (CIFA) of the University of Navarra. Esther Vicente did research for five months at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, where she drew up the evaluation of the antimalarial activity of her products. The antituberculosis work was carried out at the Southern Research Institute of Birmingham, within the Tuberculosis Antimicrobial Acquisition and Coordinating Facility (TAACF) that is subsidised by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda.
Release date: January 22, 2008
Source: Basque Research
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
