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Peter
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New therapy cures malaria in one day

Elvira van Noort |South Africa 11 November 2005

A new combination therapy comprising only three pills cures patients of malaria once and for all in one day, its Belgian manufacturer said on Friday.

The new therapy has been developed by Belgian company Dafra Pharma and will be launched on the African market next year. The recommended price for government procurement will be €1 (about R8) per adult patient and €0,50 (R4) per child, the company said in a statement.

Dafra Pharma, a medium-sized, family-owned pharmaceutical company in Belgium, claims the therapy effectively combats "even the most complicated forms of the disease".

The new therapy of artesunate and sulfamethoxypyrazine/pyrimethamine will be unveiled on November 14 at the special Artemisinin Combination Therapy Symposium at the Multilateral Initiative for Malaria Congress in Yaoundé, Cameroon, which will be attended by 2 000 scientists from around the world.

The low recommended price for government procurement makes this one-day therapy the cheapest of all artemisinin-based combination therapies to combat malaria.

Accordingly, Dafra Pharma has developed three different therapies for patients of different weights, including one especially for children and babies.

The therapy can also be administered to pregnant women without any risks.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended combining an existing anti-malarial molecule with an artemisinin derivative, a new molecule originating from an old herb used in Chinese medicine, Artemisia annua, in a bid to reduce treatment time and avoid the possible build-up of resistance.

In the past, patients had to take 24 pills over three days. They had to be very closely monitored, and if they failed to take all their medication there was no guarantee they would be cured; they could even become more vulnerable.

Furthermore, the cure was not always definitive, with some patients suffering a relapse within 28 days or already starting to suffer from a fresh bout of malaria following reinfection. This situation was intolerable and had to be improved.

The efficacy of the new therapy has been tested in studies by Professor Louis Penali, from the Pasteur Institute in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in accordance with the WHO's current 28-day protocol.

After the initial cure, which takes place after just one day, there were no subsequent clinical relapses -- not even 28 days after the start of treatment -- nor were any parasites left in the patients' blood. This finding was reconfirmed in studies conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to figures published by the WHO, every year between 1,5-million and 2,7-million people die of malaria and between 350-million and 500-million contract the disease. Official reports from the WHO suggest that one African child under five years of age dies of malaria every 30 seconds.

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What impact will this have on the population problem?

Nill

Looking at one german aid agency in harare with a mandate to feed orphans...the german Directors daughter gets E5000 a month pluss local salary and living expenses (car and house). She is the accountant who comes into the office one day a week.

Other of the NGO staff are on similar salaries - and total wage/perks bill for the harare office and staff is E37,000pm. E2500 per MONTH is actually spent on food for the orphans.

Most people in Africa could not afford US$1 for anything and most aid goes to aid the aiders

quote:

Most people in Africa could not afford US$1 for anything and most aid goes to aid the aiders

Amen!

What I like about this medicine is that the entire course of treament is administered over a short time period. An incompleted course of therapy is one of the major causes of resistance developing to any pathogen.

Personally I have noticed that the sicker I am, the less concern I have about the possibility of adverse effects/side effects .

LD

500 grains it would cost about 5 cents for a condom to be handed out over there but unfortunatly most of them arnt bright enought to use one.