New malaria drugs need subsidy, study finds

An entire new class of effective antimalarial drugs will have little effect on the prevalence of the disease unless they are made more affordable. Research by the government of Uganda and the non-governmental organisation Medicines for Malaria Venture shows that such drugs are “too expensive and not widely available for millions in Africa.”

In its first report on the antimalarial drugs market in Uganda, the venture says, “Replacing older classes of drugs with ACTs [artemisinin based combination therapies] is critical to ensure appropriate treatment of malaria, a disease that has grown resistant to a number of drugs, such as chloroquine (CQ) and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP).” …