Launch of child malaria drug threatens local industry

Feb 22, 2009

THE launch of <i>Coartem Dispersible</i>, a child-friendly anti-malarial medicine, has been received with mixed feelings.

By Anthony Bugembe

THE launch of Coartem Dispersible, a child-friendly anti-malarial medicine, has been received with mixed feelings.

The medicine, launched in different African countries, is a product of Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a Swiss non-profit company and Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical.

Under the MMV/Novartis partnership, the medicine will be sold at $0.37 (about sh722) per treatment.
“This is the first pediatric malaria cure that is dispersible, sweet and has stringent regulatory approval,” the partnership announced.

Emmanuel Otaala, the outgoing primary health care state minister said: “The launch of the drug means enhancement of our efforts in the fight against malaria in children. It comes at a time when we are scaling up access to affordable and more effective anti-malaria drugs.”

Following resistance of malaria to drugs like chloroquine, the Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended a new class of anti-malarial medicines called Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs).

“The only fear is that we have a factory manufacturing Anti-malarial drugs (Luzira-based Quality Chemicals),” Otaala said.

Dr. Ambrose Talisuna, the MMV country director, said if WHO approved Quality Chemicals and it started producing the medicine, then it would be up to the Government to buy from it or not.

“We want Ugandans to enjoy high quality medicine. At the moment, Uganda cannot use the Global Fund or WHO money to buy drugs from Quality Chemicals because the factory has not yet been pre-qualified by WHO,” Talisuna said.

Dr. Chris Hentschel, the MMV chief executive officer, said: “Getting babies to take bitter malaria medicines is difficult, but mothers in Africa can now easily give their children a sweet and effective cure, which will save their lives.”

A study published in The Lancet, a science journal, showed that Coartem Dispersible provided a high cure rate of 97.8%.

Malaria kills 320 people in Uganda every day. Most of these are pregnant women and children below five years.

Uganda is one of the first countries to benefit from the Affordable Medicines for Malaria Facility, which delivers subsidised medicines at an affordable price.

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