Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Malaria Medication

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 5 2008 (IPS) - Brazil has a new, more efficient medication against malaria, ASMQ, which will be available at cost (2.5 dollars per dose) for Latin American and Asian countries. ASMQ combines two pharmaceuticals of proven effectiveness against the most serious form of the disease, falciparum. It was tested successfully in 17,000 patients last year in the Amazon region.

“Most of the people were cured,” said Hilbert Ferreira, assistant director of Farmanguinhos, laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which presented the results Apr. 17.

ASMQ is safer, faster and cheaper than other malaria medications, according to the Foundation. The pills can be stored up to three years in a tropical climate and treatment is reduced to three days.