title: Mathematical Modelling to Guide Drug Development for Malaria Elimination.
abstract: Mathematical models of the dynamics of a drug within the host are now frequently used to guide drug development. These generally focus on assessing the efficacy and duration of response to guide patient therapy. Increasingly, antimalarial drugs are used at the population level, to clear infections, provide chemoprevention, and to reduce onward transmission of infection. However, there is less clarity on the extent to which different drug properties are important for these different uses. In addition, the emergence of drug resistance poses new threats to longer-term use and highlights the need for rational drug development. Here, we argue that integrating within-host pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) models with mathematical models for the population-level transmission of malaria is key to guiding optimal drug design to aid malaria elimination.
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis & Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Hannah C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Slater
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis & Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Lucy C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Okell
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis & Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, UK. Electronic address: a.ghani@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Azra C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ghani
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D060740:Disease Eradication; D015195:Drug Design; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials
keywords: Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium vivax; drug development; drug-based strategies; malaria; mathematical modelling