July 21, 2020 -- Boron-based discovery platform firm Boragen has received a phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support antimalarial drug discovery.
Boragen said that the $300,500 grant will further accelerate a collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco that focuses on effective control for Plasmodium, the protozoan parasite that causes malaria.
The project will initially leverage Boragen's boron-based small molecular library to identify new targets and modes of action for inhibiting Plasmodium, according to the company. However, the firm said they are also considering a strategy that could both inhibit the parasite and provide the relevant anti-inflammatory effect.