The first anti-malaria drug has been approved in 60 years

A drug to treat malaria – the first to have been approved for 60 years – received the go-ahead from health authorities United States.

The drug is specifically for the recurrent form of malaria, which sickens 8.5 million people each year.

This type of malaria is a particular challenge to eliminate because it can remain dormant in the liver for years before waking up several times.

Scientists have described tafenoquine as a "phenomenal achievement".

Regulators around the world will now look at drugs to see if they can recommend it to their populations.

Recurrent Disease

Recurrent malaria – caused by Plasmodium vivax – is the most common type of malaria outside of sub-Saharan Africa.

Children can be particularly at risk, have multiple bouts of malaria because of one bite, miss a lot of school and weaken each time they contract the disease.

And infected people can act as unintended reservoirs of the disease because when the parasite wakes up in their body, a mosquito can transmit that parasite to someone else.

This can make it difficult to eliminate worldwide.

Now the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has given its approval to tafenoquine, a drug that can hunt the parasite from its hiding place in the liver and prevent people from catching it again .

It can be taken alongside another drug to treat the immediate infection.

There is already a drug that can be used to get rid of hidden malaria in the liver called primaquine.

But unlike the single dose of tafenoquine needed, primaquine often has to be taken for 14 days.

Some experts worry that many people feel better after a few days and stop taking the pills, allowing the parasite to wake up at a later date.

Necessary Precaution

The FDA states that the drug is effective and approved for use in the United States, but points out that there are significant side effects to know.

For example, people with an enzyme problem, called G6PD deficiency, should not take the drug because it can cause severe anemia,

The regulatory body recommends that people undergo a test of deficiency before receiving it. problem in poorer areas where malaria is common.

There is also concern that at higher doses this may be a problem for people with psychiatric illnesses.

But despite these warnings, there is hope that the drug, along with mosquito nets and other precautions, will help reduce the amount of P. vivax malaria worldwide.

Professor Ric Price, of Oxford University, told the BBC: "The ability to get rid of the parasite in the liver with a single dose of tafenoquine is a phenomenal achievement and represents for me one of the most significant progress "

Meanwhile, Dr. Hal Barron, president of research and development at GSK, the company that makes the drug, said:" The approval from Krintafel [the brand name for tafenonquine] the first new treatment for Plasmodium vivax "In collaboration with our partner, Medicines for Malaria Venture, we believe that Krintafel will be an important drug for malaria patients and contribute to the fight against malaria.

Tafenonquin has existed since the 1970s, but by working with Medicines for Malaria, GSK has reoriented the drug so that it can be used to get rid of malaria parasites. In the liver.

The next step will be to evaluate the drug by regulators in countries where this form of malaria is a major problem.