Renewed hope in Roche’s malaria drug

Researchers hope that the drug could provide a dramatic reduction in the impact of malaria, relieving 10% of people infected with this debilitating and often fatal disease, which affects a total of approximately 300 million people worldwide (according to the information service Directors of Health Promotion and Education).

Results from the study are expected to confirm significant health benefits in the new application of a 20-year-old malaria drug, at just 12 cents a dose.

As with many other such curative drugs, Fansidar’s effectiveness has declined over time with increased resistance by the malaria parasite. But initial clinical evidence suggests that Fansidar could have a new lease on life as a protective drug that strengthens a person’s own immune system against malaria.

Early field experiments were conducted in the African country of Tanzania in the late 1990s. These suggested that giving just one Fansidar tablet to an apparently healthy child during their routine infant immunization visits dramatically reduced the impact of any subsequent malaria infection. Used in this way, Fansidar does not prevent malaria but seems to produce a massive 50% reduction in death, debilitation and complications of malaria, such as severe anaemia and raging fevers.

“While the drug itself dissipates in the bloodstream over a few days, it appears to enable the immune system to re-energize and more successfully combat any subsequent malarial infection. We suspect that many toddlers who seem reasonably healthy might actually have low level malarial infections that are eliminated by Fansidar, allowing the immune system to develop to its full potential,” said joint project leader, Dr Louis Schofield from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.