topnaman | Malaria blog

Chloroquine was discovered in Germany in 1934 (as Resochin) but was originally considered too toxic for human use. After American trials of the drug in World War 2 chloroquine became a mainstay of malaria treatment. In recent decades with the advent of worldwide drug resistance its use has declined. With perhaps the exception of Mesoamerica, [...]

Today, the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria was unveiled in Norway (great NY Times piece) with an initial $225 million. The subsidy program aims to increase the availability of affordable artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) – the recommended first line treatments for malaria – through private drug shops. Many people in some countries self-treat with antimalarials [...]

A key article from the recent Malaria Journal supplement (previously discussed here) described the role of anti-malarial drugs in reducing malaria transmission (the actual title referred to eliminating malaria, going along with the issue’s theme, but the message really applies to any form of malaria control).  The author of the paper is Dr. Nicholas White, [...]

PLOS Medicine (open access! – I enjoy supporting journals in this format) did it again. The journal has carried some great exchanges between scientific “clans” on contentious topics which tend to be both lively and informative. A previous debate included whether or not data from Demographic Surveillance Systems (DSS), a form of long term demographic [...]

Bate et al. tested antimalarial quality for several drugs in 6 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and found an alarming 35% were substandard as gauged by thin layer chromatography or dissolution tests. The authors did not attempt to assess whether counterfeit or not as the outcome would remain the same – i.e. the drugs are substandard [...]

The world’s most potent antimalarial, artemisinin, is not available to physicians in the United States but a CDC investigational new drug (IND) project is trying to change that. Over 1,000 cases of malaria are imported into the United States every year and many cases present with severe complications as most travelers lack any natural immunity. [...]

GlaxoSmithKline pulled Lapdap (chloroproguanil-dapsone) from the market and ended the development of Dacart (Lapdap+artesunate) after phase III trials of the drugs showed significant hemoglobin reductions in patients with glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Patient’s with G6PD deficiency have weaker red blood cell membranes which can rupture when exposed to oxidative stress caused by certain drugs [...]