The study, conducted by an international team and led by RMIT University's Professor Christian Doerig, outlines a strategy that could save years of drug discovery research and millions of dollars in drug development by repurposing existing treatments designed for other diseases such as cancer.

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The approach shows so much promise it has received government funding for its potential application in the fight against COVID-19.

The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrated that the parasites that cause malaria are heavily dependent on enzymes in red blood cells where the parasites hide and proliferate.