An attractive strategy to limit the evolution of drug-resistant malaria-causing parasites is to target host factors that are essential for parasite invasion. Now, Zenonos et al. describe the development of a high-affinity recombinant chimeric antibody targeting the erythrocyte receptor basigin 1, which is essential for invasion in all tested strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The novel antibody prevented invasion of erythrocytes by multiple P. falciparum parasite lines in vitro, and cleared blood-stage parasites without side effects in a mouse P. falciparum infection model.