Malaria Treatment For Children Gets Approval for the First Time
by Naba Batool
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In a recent study, it has been surfaced that Australian scientists have approved a new drug combination that can work wonders in children from 2 to 16 years of age. This is promising research that can then further open the avenues for survival in the battle against one of the deadliest diseases known to mankind.
The proposed drug is a single dose of tafenoquine that will be administered alongside the traditional chloroquine treatment. This combination therapy was approved on Monday by the nonprofit medicines for malaria venture which was a great helping hand in the development of the drug.
Australian regulators have approved a simple drug combination as an effective cure for a form of malaria in children ages 2 to 16, opening the door to approvals in other countries. https://t.co/nRep8zfRqL
— NYT Health (@NYTHealth) March 15, 2022
Tafenoquine is a known pharmaceutical drug in the medical community. It has been used for the treatment of malaria that is caused by Plasmodium vivax. This type of malaria is more common in South and Southeast Asia, South America, and the Horn of Africa.
This proposed frug is to be submitted to nine countries and WHO for approval. Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases of the twenty-first century that causes five million malarial infections every year.
The use of chloroquine is administered at the blood stage of the parasite. Thus it is not useful to prevent the recurrence of the infections also for the control of the associated symptoms. The combined therapy drug is provided to the children as a single small 50-milligram tablet that is first dispersed in water.
David Reddy who is the chief executive said that “Today, we have a tool to put a stop to the relentless relapse both for adults and children — we are one step closer to defeating this disease.”
Furthermore, the efficacy of the drug in preventing the rebound of the disease was also 95% and that is a positive sign for malarial treatment for kids.
