Tropenmedizin - Repetitorium

Medikamente   Malaria

Coartem
 
Pressestimmen
2001.05.27  ap
Novartis developed Coartem

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
  Associated Press Writer

             GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization praised an agreement
  by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG to slash the price of its
  newest anti-malaria drug for parts of Africa.
             The deal, signed Wednesday, could help reverse a trend in which
  ``the number of children dying of malaria in Africa has been
  increasing in recent years,'' said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem
  Brundtland.
             ``This is really a good deal for global health,'' she said.
             WHO estimates that malaria, spread by the Anopheles mosquito,
  infects more than 300 million people a year and kills 1 million of
  them annually. Most who die are African children under the age of
  5.
             Part of the problem is the malaria parasite is increasingly
  resistant to the standard treatment, chloroquine, which once was
  highly effective, Brundtland said.
             Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella said the company had
  developed the new medicine, called Coartem, with an eye toward
  providing it at cost to WHO. The price - about 10 cents a tablet,
  or $2.40 per full adult treatment - brings the company no profit,
  but covers its costs, he said.
             Coartem costs up to $40 per course of treatment in the West,
  where it is sold under the name Riamet to people traveling to
  malaria-infested areas, Vasella said.
             Novartis developed Coartem with the Institute for Microbiology
  and Epidemiology in Beijing by combining a traditional Chinese
  plant-based remedy with a synthetic substance.
             The result is the fastest-acting anti-malaria medicine, with a
  cure rate over 95 percent. It kills parasites in 48 hours. So far,
  no development of resistance has been detected, Vasella said.
             Brundtland conceded that the low price was still too expensive
  for some countries but said the drug could be used where it is most
  needed to fight drug-resistant cases. The program would focus on
  East and Central Africa, where the need is greatest, she said.
             The agreement comes as other pharmaceutical companies have moved
  to cut their prices of AIDS drugs in recent months because of
  pressure to make the drugs available to poor countries. Novartis
  doesn't produce AIDS medicines.
             ``Malaria is a bigger killer of young children in Africa than
  HIV/AIDS,'' said David Alnwick, head of WHO's anti-malaria
  campaign.
 

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