Malaria has proven to be a major cause of death in Africa, with an estimated 1 million people dying worldwide every year, the disease is said to be severe among children under five in the region.
According to Italian Pharmaceutical Company sigma-tau statement, the new combination of drugs which cures malaria also protects patients against new infections for at least two months after the Malaria treatment.
Sigma-tau said the new medication combining in a single tablet has highly reactive ingredients and does not stay long in the body with a second tablet which stays longer in the body.
"This combination treatment is to be taken only for three days and facilitates the mutual protection of the two active ingredients against drug resistance," the statement said.
Rwanda, according to the Ministry of Health, welcomes any developments that will compliment its efforts to rid the population of malaria – which some years back – was the biggest challenge, and remains so among children less than five years.
In 2007, government banned all other malaria prescriptions and introduced Coartem – even subsidizing it heavily. Doctors these days do not prescribe anything else but Coartem.
However, a combination mass distribution long-lasting insecticidal nets and artemisinin-based combination therapies in the country, helped roll back malaria cases by more than 66% in just a year, the World Health Organisation reported last year.
The Coordinator of one of the trials on the new drug, Prof Umberto D'Alessandro said the new medication expands the treatment collection available and delivers immediate benefits because it acts rapidly and saves lives of people who are the hardest hit by the disease.
"If not promptly and effectively treated, malaria can kill in just a few days after the onset of symptoms," said Prof D'Alessandro.
Sigma-tau Chairman, Claudio Cavazza said the new data illustrated by conducted trials has confirmed huge potential of this new combination which may become the gold standard in malaria treatment in countries where fatal drug-resistance has been observed with conventional anti malaria drugs.
"Our hope is that the joint efforts made to develop this new drug and make it available to the greatest possible number of patients will substantially contribute to the achievement of the ambitious goal of the Gates Foundation to eliminate and ultimately fully eradicate malaria," he said.
He said extremely positive results of the clinical trials might pave way for the new drug in the market, however, saying the company is yet to get approval to distribute medication around mid 2009 not only in the United States and Europe, but also in other countries where malaria is endemic.
Sigma-tau is an all Italian capital, international pharmaceutical group that invests in the research, development and marketing of innovative and effective treatments to improve patient well-being and quality of life.
A trial for the new Italian malaria drug was conducted in five African countries and some Asian states, involving over 2,700 patients of whom 1,600 children under 5. Participating African countries in the trail programme were Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia.
Working with partners in China, Novartis had developed Coartem, the first of a new class of antimalarial medicines known as artemisinin-based combination therapy, or ACT.