Professor Richard Price
Contact information
Podcast interview
Curing Plasmodium vivax malaria
Vivax malaria used to be considered benign but is now recognised as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Resistance to chloroquine (given to treat the parasite blood stage) is growing and ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) is becoming common treatment for vivax malaria. New drugs and better public health strategies can help elimination targets, anticipated for 2030.
Research groups
Ethiopian Clinic
Vietnam Hospital
Richard Price
Professor of Tropical Medicine
- Wellcome Clinical Fellow, Asia Pacific, Australia
Vivax malaria
The main focus of our translational research programme is to improve the diagnosis and management of vivax malaria. To achieve this we are working with 15 malaria endemic countries across the Asia-Pacific region and Horn of Africa to:
- define the direct and indirect morbidity and mortality of vivax malaria
- optimise the safe and effective radical cure of vivax malaria,
- improve the molecular surveillance of drug resistant malaria,
- evaluate the impact and cost effectiveness of novel treatment and malaria control activities.
The programme is being conducted in collaboration with the Mahidol Oxford Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand and the Menzies School of Health Research (MSHR) in Darwin.
I am head of the clinical module of the World Wide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) and co-chair the Vivax Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN).
CURRENT PROJECTS:
- Clinical trials of different primaquine regimens
- Field testing novel G6PD diagnostics
- Mapping populations at risk of malaria and drug induced haemolysis
- Determining the molecular basis of chloroquine resistant P. vivax
- Ex vivo drug susceptibility of novel antimalarial compounds
Timika, Papua, Indonesia
RSMM Hospital
Sumatra Site for IMPROV Study
Ex vivo Lab
Recent publications
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Adults with Plasmodium falciparum malaria have higher magnitude and quality of circulating T-follicular helper cells compared to children.
Oyong DA. et al, (2021), EBioMedicine, 75
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Malaria eradication revisited.
Douglas NM. et al, (2021), Int J Epidemiol
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Identifying targets of protective antibodies against severe malaria in Papua, Indonesia using locally expressed domains of Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1.
Rambhatla JS. et al, (2021), Infection and Immunity
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Implementing radical cure diagnostics for malaria: user perspectives on G6PD testing in Bangladesh
Engel N. et al, (2021), Malaria Journal, 20
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Opening the policy blackbox: unravelling the process for changing national diagnostic and treatment guidelines for vivax malaria in seven countries
Ruwanpura V. et al, (2021), Malaria Journal, 20
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Tafenoquine for children: a step towards implementation
Commons RJ. and Price RN., (2021), The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health