Malaria killed almost 400,000 people worldwide in 2019, the vast majority of children under 5 years of age. Although lethal, this parasite can be treated with combined artemisinin treatments, also called dual therapy. But the problem with these treatments is that the parasites tend to resist them more and more often. So some researchers are working on developing new drugs and trials are currently being conducted on 1,600 children under the age of 5 in Mali, Ghana, Gabon and Benin …
The clinical trials conducted in these four African countries are testing life-size drugs that are still based on artemisinin, no longer in two, but in triple therapy.
“The aim of the project is to prove that this triple therapy will be effective and well tolerated by patients, ie with few additional side effects compared to the double treatment, and the absence of abnormalities in plasma concentrations,” explains researcher Jérôme Clain, who initiated these trials. .
Triple therapy is a treatment, as the name suggests, based on three molecules. The first, artemisinin eliminates most of the parasites in a few hours, the second continues the eradication and the third amplifies the second by killing resistant parasites.
And it is this third molecule, atovaquone proguanil, better known as malaron in combination with the other two, which is the novelty of these tests. Its property: block the transmission of the parasite throughout the treatment period. “The advantage of atovaquone proguanil is that it has a double effect, while preventing transmission and also helping to reduce symptoms,” suggests Jérôme Clain.
As combination drugs are already on the market, the cost of this new triple therapy would be affordable for countries on the African continent.
Burkina Faso vaccine candidate triggers hope
In Burkina Faso, researchers from the Nanoro Clinical Research Unit and their partners at the University of Oxford have released the first results of studies on a candidate malaria vaccine. The clinical trial of this vaccine candidate has just passed its second phase. R21 / Matrix-M has shown very high efficiency. This is already raising hopes among those involved in the fight against malaria, reports our correspondent in Ouagadougou, Yaya Boudani.
A total of 450 children aged 5 to 17 months were recruited from 24 villages during these initial trials. Researchers said that over 12 months of follow-up, the vaccine proved to be 77% effective in the dose group. Highest dose and 71% in the lowest dose group, without any serious vaccine-related side effects.
These results have never been matched by any other vaccine candidate. This raises a lot of hope among health professionals. It is also the first vaccine candidate to achieve the 75% efficacy target set by the World Health Organization.
“These are impressive results. We look forward to the next step, which is the Phase III clinical trial to confirm with large-scale data the safety and efficacy results of a vaccine that is very essential for the control of malaria in our region, ”emphasizes Professor Halidou Tinto, lead researcher for the trial.
The final test phase will begin soon. 4,800 children aged 5 to 36 months will be recruited in four African countries: Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania. After the results of this phase, the vaccine candidate can be approved.
Continue the battle
Meanwhile, malaria continues to kill massively in Africa and mainly children under 5 years of age. It is therefore important to continue fighting on the continent, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, reminds Dr. Moumouni Kinda, Director General of a medical non-governmental organization operating on the ground in Central and West Africa to prevent the effects of this disease. Over the past year, the WHO has recorded an increase in malaria-related mortality from 19,000 to 100,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa.
We have noticed a decrease in the presence in the health structures in which we work, this decline can mainly be linked to the fear of the pandemic. (…) It is true that Covid is a global emergency so we must invest in the fight against this pandemic but we must continue to fight other diseases …
Doctor Moumouni Kinda
