Halofantrine

Halofantrine
Clinical data
Trade namesHalfan
AHFS/Drugs.comConsumer Drug Information
MedlinePlusa603030
Routes of
administration
Oral
ATC code
Pharmacokinetic data
Protein binding60–70%
MetabolismHepatic (CYP3A4-mediated)
Elimination half-life6–10 days
Identifiers
  • 3-(Dibutylamino)-1-[1,3-dichloro-6-(trifluoromethyl)-9-phenanthryl]-1-propanol
CAS Number
PubChem CID
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
ChEMBL
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard100.067.346 Edit this at Wikidata
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC26H30Cl2F3NO
Molar mass500.43 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • FC(F)(F)c3ccc2c(cc1c(Cl)cc(Cl)cc1c2c3)C(O)CCN(CCCC)CCCC
  • InChI=1S/C26H30Cl2F3NO/c1-3-5-10-32(11-6-4-2)12-9-25(33)23-16-22-21(14-18(27)15-24(22)28)20-13-17(26(29,30)31)7-8-19(20)23/h7-8,13-16,25,33H,3-6,9-12H2,1-2H3 checkY
  • Key:FOHHNHSLJDZUGQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N checkY
  (verify)

Halofantrine is a drug used to treat malaria. Halofantrine's structure contains a substituted phenanthrene, and is related to the antimalarial drugs quinine and lumefantrine. Marketed as Halfan, halofantrine is never used to prevent malaria and its mode of action is unknown, although a crystallographic study showed that it binds to hematin in vitro, suggesting a possible mechanism of action.[1] Halofantrine has also been shown to bind to plasmepsin, a haemoglobin degrading enzyme unique to the malarial parasites.[2]

Halofantrine was developed at SRI International for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1965 to 1975 by a team led by medicinal chemist William Colwell.[3]

  1. ^ de Villiers KA, Marques HM, Egan TJ (2008). "The crystal structure of halofantrine-ferriprotoporphyrin IX and the mechanism of action of arylmethanol antimalarials". J. Inorg. Biochem. 102 (8): 1660–7. doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2008.04.001. PMID 18508124.
  2. ^ Friedman R, Caflisch A (2009). "Discovery of plasmepsin inhibitors by fragment-based docking and consensus scoring" (PDF). ChemMedChem. 4 (8): 1317–26. doi:10.1002/cmdc.200900078. PMID 19472268. S2CID 14642593. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  3. ^ Nielson D (2006). A Heritage of Innovation: SRI's First Half Century. Menlo Park, California: SRI International. pp. 10-3–10-5. ISBN 978-0974520810.