FDAnews
www.fdanews.com/articles/81543-african-malaria-hopes-seen-fading

AFRICAN MALARIA HOPES SEEN FADING

October 11, 2005

According to reports published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), a promising new malaria therapy is failing to reach African sufferers of the disease. Artemisin, a product based on the shrub wormwood that is manufactured in large volumes by many Asian producers, currently reaches only a minority of sufferers.

The BMJ research indicates that even governments that have progressively replaced older anti-malrials such as chloroquine with so-called artemisin combination therapies (ACTs) have failed to distribute the products effectively. For example, only 22% of eligible children in Zambia have received the drugs, possibly due to the region's long-standing distribution bottlenecks.

The study's authors also note that costs remain prohibitive, and that cooperation between suppliers and local government health agencies is inadequate. Other studies published in the BMJ also indicate that poor coordination has also blighted trials of AIDS therapies in Africa, with just 77 trials logged between 1987 and 2003. A minority of the trials in question appeared to have inadequate consent by volunteers.

Nevertheless, it is likely that this poor performance will improve in the future, given the increasing co-operation between multinational antiretroviral producers and local firms in markets such as South Africa. In the meantime, the success of efforts by some leading research-based firms to combat malaria remains an open question.