Cheap malaria drug approved

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3128219.stm


A cheap drug to combat malaria is to be launched by GlaxoSmithKline.
The drug could help to save millions of lives each year in some of the
world's poorest countries.

According to GSK, a course of treatment with Lapdap will cost just 18
pence (29 US cents) for an adult and 9 pence for a child.

This is much cheaper than many existing drugs, some of which can cost as
much as £33 per course.

Major killer

Malaria affects around 300 million people around the world each year.

Nine out of 10 cases occur in Africa. The disease claims the lives of at
least one million people annually, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO).

"Lapdap can help us meet the urgent need for an affordable anti-malaria
treatment for use in Africa": Professor Peter Winstanley,University of
Liverpool

Many of these lives could be saved if more affordable drugs were
available.

This latest drug, which combines two existing anti-malaria compounds, has
been developed by GSK in collaboration with the WHO and scientists in the
UK.

The $5m development costs were shared between GSK, the WHO and the UK
Department for International Development.

Trials have shown that it is more effective than some existing treatments
and can also help people who are resistant to some older drugs.

It has now been approved for use by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency.

GSK said the drug would be made available in sub-Saharan Africa as soon as
possible.

In a statement, the company said: "GlaxoSmithKline plans to make Lapdap
available at preferential prices across sub-Saharan Africa as soon as
local approval has been granted."

Professor Peter Winstanley, director of the Wellcome Trust Tropical Centre
at the University of Liverpool which led the development work, welcomed
the drug's approval.

"Lapdap can help us meet the urgent need for an affordable anti-malaria
treatment for use in Africa," he said.

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