Nitisinone, the next frontier in malaria control

A study published in Science Translational Medicine in 2025, conducted by researchers under the direction of Lee R. Haines, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame and Honorary Fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, has revealed a further pharmaceutical agent with the capacity to reduce mosquito populations and manage the propagation of malaria. The research indicated that the blood of individuals administered Nitisinone exhibits toxicity to mosquitoes, a hematophagous insect. Nitisinone is a medication employed in the treatment of uncommon genetic disorders characterized by impaired tyrosine metabolism. The drug operates by inhibiting the activity of the enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD). It has been established that this HPPD enzyme is also inhibited in mosquitoes, leading to their rapid mortality. Nitisinone has been recognized as a potentially superior alternative to Ivermectin, the conventional ectoparasiticide that selectively targets ectoparasites such as mosquitoes. Nitisinone possesses a considerably extended half-life in human blood relative to Ivermectin and is capable of eliminating mosquitoes across all age groups, including older specimens with a higher propensity for malaria transmission, as well as mosquitoes resistant to conventional insecticides. This is critical when the drug is applied in the field for human and environmental safety and economic reasons, said Álvaro Acosta Serrano, a professor of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame and co-corresponding author of the study.