Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Efficacy and Safety of the Dispersible Formulation of Artemether-lumefantrine, Co-formulated Artesunate-amodiaquine and Co-formulated Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for the Treatment of Uncomplicated
Brief Summary:
Background: Malaria is a cause of substantial morbidity and mortality in Malawi. Prompt and effective treatment of uncomplicated malaria remains a key strategy to reduce the public health burden of malaria. Due to the rising resistance to and falling efficacy of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, the first-line treatment of uncomplicated malaria from 1993 to 2007, the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) revised the national treatment guidelines in 2007. The revised treatment guidelines recommend artemether-lumefantrine as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria and artesunate-amodiaquine as a second-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria. The change in policy was based primarily on efficacy data from other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, although both artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine have been in use in Malawi since 2007, there are relatively few studies assessing their efficacy. In a study conducted in 2004-2006 in Blantyre, artemether-lumefantrine was found to be efficacious.1 In addition, a more recent assessment of artemether-lumefantrine in vivo efficacy conducted in six sites in Malawi in 2009 also suggests that the standard formulation artemether-lumefantrine remains highly efficacious (Kamija Phiri, personal communication).
Although, some Malawi-specific data on the in vivo efficacy of the standard formulation of artemether-lumefantrine exists, there are additional data that is needed to support the current policy and inform future policy decisions. In 2010 the NMCP has introduced the dispersible formulation of artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem-D™) for use as a first-line antimalarial in Malawi, due to the global unavailability of the standard formulation of artemether-lumefantrine from Novartis, the key supplier of the standard formulation of artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem™) in Malawi. In light of these developmen