Ciba To Develop Novel Chinese Antimalarial

Ciba-Geigy has signed an agreement with three Chinese partners regarding the development of a novel combination therapy for malaria. The orally-active, fixed combination product will combine benflumetol, a novel substance invented by the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology in Beijing, with an orally-active formulation of the artemisinin alkaloid derivative artemether.

An injectable formulation of artemether was first launched in China in 1992, as Qing Hao, by Kunming Pharmaceutical. Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and the World Health Organization are involved in the development of this injectable form on a worldwide basis. R-PR recently received approval for the product in Scandinavia, and it has now been launched in five countries under the trade name Paluther.

Ciba will develop the treatment in collaboration with the Institute, Kunming and CITITECH, the technological arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of China International Trust and Investment Corp. Ciba says that this short, well-tolerated treatment should improve compliance (a major problem in the treatment of malaria due to the toxicity of available drugs) and help to provide an effective management regimen in countries where the disease is endemic. The company has an exclusive license to develop the drug outside of China, said a spokesman.