Drugmakers respond to WHO on artemisinin

The World Health Organization says that 13 pharmaceutical companies, including France's Sanofi-Aventis and India's Ipca and Cipla, have agreed to comply with its recommendation to phase out single-drug artemisinin medicines for oral treatment of malaria. This group includes the main producers of high-quality artemisinin monotherapies. The firms will now focus their marketing efforts for malaria primarily on Artemisinin Combination Therapies, in line with WHO recommendations. The use of single-drug artemisinin treatment, especially on a wide scale for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria, hastens development of resistance to artemisinin in malaria parasites. When used correctly in combination with other anti-malarial drugs in ACTs, artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing uncomplicated malaria and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant.

Therefore, in January 2006, the WHO appealed to all companies to stop marketing oral artemisinin monotherapies and to re-direct their production efforts towards ACTs. Following the January appeal, an additional 23 companies were identified and informed of the WHO's recommendation. 13 said they would comply with the WHO guidance and additional companies have said they are willing to collaborate with this endeavor.

"In the last three months, thanks to determined follow-up, we have seen significant progress towards curbing the supply of inappropriate and clinically unsound malaria treatments," said Lee Jong-wook, the WHO's Director General, adding: the "WHO now calls for a complete transition to provision of WHO-recommended combination therapies, in order to preserve the efficacy of these life-saving treatments."