Novartis, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, has announced that its antimalarial medicine Coartem 80/480mg received World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification, making it the first and only high strength (80/480mg) artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) antimalarial treatment available for public sector procurement. This new dosage strength has the potential to improve malaria management.
One Coartem 80/480mg tablet is bioequivalent to four tablets of Coartem 20/120mg, resulting in a lower pill burden for patients – six tablets for completion of the course of treatment, compared to the previous 24. Coartem 80/480mg, which received Swissmedic approval in November 2013, was launched in the private sector in Nigeria in late 2013 and has since been launched in more than ten African countries. This latest formulation highlights the efforts of Novartis to expand access to essential malaria treatments for all ages. In 2004 Coartem 20/120mg was the first fixed-dose ACT prequalified by the WHO and in 2009, Coartem Dispersible was launched as the first dispersible ACT designed specifically for infants and children. Today, more than 700 million treatments, including 250 million Coartem Dispersible antimalarials, have been delivered without profit to malaria-endemic countries.
Coartem 80/480mg is made up of 80mg artemether and 480mg lumefantrine. Coartem 20/120mg is made up of 20mg artemether and 120mg lumefantrine. It is distributed by African Press Organisation (APO) on behalf of Novartis International AG.
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