In a corner of Portland State University’s chemistry department, a team of scientists thinks it may have cracked one of global health’s toughest problems: how to wipe out malaria with a single dose. Their experimental molecule, known as T111, hit the parasite in liver, blood and mosquito stages in lab and animal tests, raising the possibility of a true single-encounter radical cure after more than a decade of work in PSU labs.
The work, detailed in Nature Communications, describes an acridone-derived candidate that produced single-dose cures in mouse models, prevented dormant liver hypnozoites in primate hepatocytes and blocked parasite development in mosquitoes in multiple assays, while showing encouraging early safety signs. The journal also reports picomolar potency, activity against clinical isolates from Africa and lab evidence that T111 works synergistically with the antimalarial tafenoquine.
Local Team, Long Work
Portland State notes that lead authors Papireddy Kancharla, Rozalia Dodean and Jane X. Kelly have spent years refining the acridone chemotype and have filed a provisional patent on T111. “That activity profile makes T111 a strong candidate to become a first-in-class Single Encounter Radical Cure,” Kelly said in a university news release. Portland State University also reports that the group is testing a form of T111 in non-human primates in collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences.
How T111 Is Different
Current radical-cure drugs typically go after only part of the parasite’s life cycle. T111 is designed to do more, combining activity against the liver hypnozoites that fuel relapses, the asexual blood stages that make people sick and the sexual stages that pass from humans to mosquitoes, all in a single molecule. According to Nature Communications, T111 also boosts the effect of tafenoquine and showed no signs of hemolytic toxicity in preclinical studies, suggesting it could help dial down some dose-related risks seen with existing therapies.
What's Next
Researchers say the next steps are classic but crucial: IND-enabling studies, deeper safety work and lining up pharmaceutical partners before any human trials can begin. Portland State University adds that the team has been streamlining how T111 is made to speed up production and lower costs, while non-human primate studies with military research partners continue to test its anti-relapse power.
Why This Matters
Malaria still takes a heavy toll worldwide, with an estimated 263 million cases and about 600,000 deaths in 2023, according to the World Health Organization. A safe, single-dose cure would change how countries think about control and elimination, potentially turning multi-day regimens into one-and-done encounters. Scientists involved in the project are careful to stress that there is a long path from animal data to an approved human drug, and T111 still has to clear substantial testing and regulatory hurdles before it ever reaches patients.
Local coverage is already following along. As reported by KOIN, PSU’s announcement and the Nature paper highlight a rare preclinical candidate that hits all known parasite stages. PSU researchers say they plan to publish additional data and seek more partnerships as the program moves toward possible clinical development.
