Triple Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies for Malaria - A New Paradigm?

van der Pluijm RW., Amaratunga C., Dhorda M., Dondorp AM.

Recent gains in the fight against malaria are threatened by the emergence and spread of artemisinin and partner drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). When artemisinins are combined with a single partner drug, all recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies have shown reduced efficacy in some countries in the GMS at some point. Novel drugs are not available for the near future. Triple artemisinin-based combination therapies, combining artemisinins with two currently available partner drugs, will provide one of the last remaining safe and effective treatments for falciparum malaria that can be deployed rapidly in the GMS, whereas their deployment beyond the GMS could delay or prevent the global emergence and spread of resistance to currently available drugs.

DOI

10.1016/j.pt.2020.09.011

Type

Journal

Trends in parasitology

Publication Date

01/2021

Volume

37

Pages

15 - 24

Addresses

Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Keywords

Humans, Plasmodium falciparum, Malaria, Falciparum, Artemisinins, Antimalarials, Drug Therapy, Combination, Drug Resistance, Asia, Southeastern

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