Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Malaria drug, made in India

Malaria drug, made in India

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 26, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 26, 2012
-The Telegraph

An Indian pharmaceutical company has tweaked and tested a synthetic molecule first created in an American university and developed the world's latest drug against malaria, an alternative to standard anti-malarial therapy.

India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories today launched the new drug for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, after nine years of research which was partly supported by the Indian government.

Clinical trials in India, Tanzania, and Thailand have suggested that the drug yields a cure rate of over 95 per cent and could serve as an alternative to existing anti-malarial therapy based on the compound called artemisinin derived from plants. Senior Ranbaxy officials announced today that the drug would be made available in India at Rs 130 for three tablets, and treatment would involve taking a single tablet for three days.

The drug is a combination of two molecules — arterolane, discovered and patented several years ago by Professor Jonathan Vennestrom, a medicinal chemistry expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in the US — and piperaquine, an anti-malarial known since the 1960s.

“Arterolane is a short-acting anti-malarial molecule and piperaquine is a long-acting molecule. We’ve combined the two to create a new combination therapy exactly on lines recommended by the World Health Organisation," said Sudershan Arora, head of research at Ranbaxy.

India’s department of science and technology (DST) contributed about Rs 5 crore to the research that involved, among other objectives, changing the salt structure of arterolane. “We changed it from a tosylate salt to a maleate salt, increasing its solubility and thus its availability in the body,” Arora said.

Public health specialists estimate that about half of India’s estimated 1.5 million cases of malaria each year are caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the others are caused by Plasmodium vivax .

“This new drug is intended for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria — not for severe malaria (also known as malignant malaria) which requires different treatment strategies,” said Neena Valecha, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, who was involved in assessing the clinical trials of the drug in India.

Malaria patients who also have severe anaemia or severe jaundice or have developed cerebral malaria are not classified as having uncomplicated malaria, Valecha said.“Early treatment reduces the risk of complicated malaria.”

The number of deaths caused by malaria in India remains in dispute with some researchers challenging the government’s claim that about 1000 people die from malaria each year. The Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was the chief guest at today’s launch, said the Indian Council of Medical Research is assessing a revised estimate of about 35,000 deaths per year made by a panel of experts set up by the health ministry.

The standard therapy for uncomplicated falciparum malaria involves artemisinin-based drugs which are substances derived from plants whose availability hinges on crop output. However, arterolane production can be scaled up whenever required because of its synthetic origin.

Ranbaxy began to pursue research on arterolane jointly with the international agency Medicines for Malaria Venture in 2003, and continued to pursue its development even after MMV withdrew financial support in early 2007. The company then turned to the DST for the series of crucial clinical trials that led to approval by drug regulators.

“We’re hoping that the government considers this drug for inclusion into the national malaria treatment programme,” Arun Sawhney, the chief executive officer of Ranbaxy, told reporters at the launch today.


The Telegraph, 26 April, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120426/jsp/nation/story_15420477.jsp#.T5jZtVL5nYQ


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close