Novartis malaria treatment receives WHO prequalification

Razor's Kalay Maistry and NTT Data's Marian Scala named in Provoke Media’s Innovator 25 EMEA

Danette Breitenbach

Novartis malaria treatment receives WHO prequalification

Following its prequalification by the World Health Organization (WHO), Novartis' Coartem 80/480mg is the first and only high strength malaria treatment available for donor-funded public sector procurement, possibly providing access to the treatment to as many as 25 million malaria sufferers across Africa.

Dr. Linus Igwemezie, Head of the Novartis Malaria Initiative

"Over the last ten years, the group has worked with partners to make Coartem treatments available to patients in the public sector and through donor-funded private sector programs," said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis.

It reduces the pill burden for patients, potentially improving adherence to treatment and clinical outcomes - six tablets for completion of the course of treatment, compared to the previous 24. It follows the launch of the first fixed-dose ACT and the first child friendly ACT formulation, underscoring the ongoing innovation of Novartis in malaria treatment.

Studies have shown that patient adherence to ACTs varies considerably, from 39% to 100%. Failure to complete the full treatment course may reduce treatment efficacy and allow malaria parasites to develop resistance to the drug.

"We welcome the arrival of high-strength drug,"said Dr Nafo Traoré, Executive Director of Roll Back Malaria Partnership. "By reducing the number of pills that adults have to take, we hope to see better adherence to treatment regimens, helping us to combat this preventable and treatable disease which still kills hundreds of thousands of people."

Although preventable and treatable, malaria was responsible for approximately 584,000 deaths in 2013.