Novel Malaria Treatment for Children Receives First Approval

Australian regulators have approved a simple drug combination as an effective cure for a form of malaria in children ages 2 to 16 years old, opening the door to approvals in other countries and heralding a new weapon in the battle against a deadly disease.

A single dose of tafenoquine is administered along with the traditional chloroquine treatment. The approval was announced on Monday by the Medicines for Malaria Venture.

In South and Southeast Asia, South America and the Horn of Africa, Tafenoquine can cure a type of malaria caused by the same mosquito.

George Jagoe, an executive vice president at the Medicines for Malaria Venture, said that the drug will be submitted for approval in nine countries.

Malaria is one of the most deadly infectious diseases. There were 229 million new infections and 558,000 deaths in 2019.

The majority of these deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the deaths occur in children younger than 5. The W.H.O. endorsed the first vaccine against the disease in October.

Children are four times more likely to contract the disease than adults, and P. vivax causes up to five million infections every year.

The parasites are a fast moving adversary that quickly changes form in the body. Acute symptoms of the infection can be found in blood.

It is possible for P. vivax to hide out in the liver for months or even years after the initial exposure. These episodes can cause brain damage and death.

Mr. Jagoe said that it was the trademark of vivax malaria.

Most treatments, including chloroquine, are directed at the blood stage of the parasites and can't prevent the reappearance of the infection. The sleeper colonies in the liver are after by tafenoquine. tafenoquine and chloroquine can deliver a radical cure.

In July of last year, the FDA approved 300 milligrams of tafenoquine for the treatment of P. vivax malaria in adults and adolescents 16 years and older. Drug regulators in Australia, Brazil, Thailand and Peru approved the same drugs.

The new formula for children is much easier to take than the current seven- or 14-day course of pills for adults, and therefore much more likely to be used.

The Medicines for Malaria Venture is one step closer to defeating the disease thanks to a new tool.

Drugs for P. falciparum can be evaluated quickly, but they need more time to be studied.

The dosages of the drug were evaluated for children who weighed at least 22 pounds. Sixty children were recruited from three sites in Vietnam and one in Colombia.

The children were given a single dose of tafenoquine and a course of chloroquine according to local or national guidelines.

The percentage of children who reported side effects was similar to that of adults and adolescents. The treatment caused vomiting in about one in five of the children, but there were no severe side effects.

The efficacy of the treatment in preventing recurrence was 95 percent at four months, similar to the efficacy in adults and older adolescents.