An international research team has successfully conducted phase II clinical trials of a new drug against malaria. The treatment made it possible to cure 83 cases.
A new combination of drugs seems very effective against malaria (malaria) according to Professor Peter Kremsner, of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Tübingen. In the study, the researchers tested the effectiveness and the tolerance of a combination of 2 drugs fosmidomycin and piperaquine.
This combination has been administered for three days to patients between the ages of one and thirty years who have Plasmodium falciparum malaria. In the 83 evaluable cases, there is a 100% cure rate. The patients tolerated the treatment well, which resulted in a rapid reduction in clinical symptoms.
In the nails of the WHO
“This study represents an important step in clinical research on fosmidomycin,” says lead author Peter Kremsner. The substance was originally extracted from Streptomyces lavendulae and can now be produced synthetically. It blocks a metabolic pathway for the production of isoprenoids in the plasmodium.
Patients tolerate the drug well and have virtually no side effects. In addition, the new combination perfectly meets the guidelines of the WHO which requires effective treatments, but without artemisin. The mechanisms of action of these 2 drugs act independently of each other against the various target structures of the parasite in the bloodstream.
This meets WHO requirements for rapid and effective treatment of the acute phase of infection, and for protection against relapses due to the persistence of the parasite in the body.
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