registering new anti-malaria mono-therapies, or single drug, for use
in the management of malaria.
The regulatory body said the licenses of mono-therapies already
in existence would not be renewed once their term expired, as part of
measures to phase them out after a set period.FDB officials told the
GNA in Accra on Thursday that this was in conformity with policy
directions to phase out mono-therapies in favour of combination
therapies.
Currently, there are a variety of mono-therapies such artesunate,
chloroquine, amodiaquine, alaxin and halufantrine in the system but
the registration licenses of majority of these drugs are expected to
expire by the end of the year.
Following problems of resistance and failure rate of chloroquine,
the World Health Organization has recommended the use of a combination
of more than one drug to treat malaria.
The world body has accepted the use of an artemisinin and other
anti-malarial drugs, ushering in a regime of artemisinin-based
combination therapies (ACTs) for treatment of malaria.
The four ACTs recommended by the WHO for Africa are:
artesunate-fansidar, artesunate-amodiaquine, artesunate-mefloquine and
artemether-lumefantrine, known also as coartem.
Eighteen countries including Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra
Leone and DR Congo, have opted for artesunate-amodiaquine, as a first
line malaria drug while 21 countries including Kenya, South Africa,
Mali and Nigeria have gone for artemether-lumefantrine.
Meanwhile, Mr Nelson Aklamanu, a pharmacist at the Palace
Pharmacy at Danquah Circle in Accra, has called for a possible trial
into reasons why children experience little side effects as compared
to adult patients when they go on artesunate amodiaquine.
He told the GNA that most adult patients who visited his pharmacy
opted for other malaria drugs, especially artemether-lumefantrine,
because of adverse effects of sleeplessness, palpitation and others
they experienced after taking artesunate-amodiaquine.
He said children, surprisingly, tolerated artesunate-amodiaquine
with very little complaints.
7 June 07
