E-drug: Suppliers/Manufacturers of artemisinin antimalarials (cont'd)
---------------------------------------------
Dear Mr Clark,
Regarding your E-drug request for suppliers/manufacturers of
artemisinin antimalarials, there are a large number of artesunate
producers, most of them Chinese. In general, their products are cheap
and effective but do not conform to GMP. The information of Sanofi
producing in China is interesting and new to me. Mepha in Switzerland
has recently started producing artesunate and it seems they produce
good quality at low cost. To my knowledge, the combination of S-P
and artesunate has not been found to be effective in SEAsia. In most
countries there, there is already too much S-P resistance. The
situation could be different in Africa.
I believe that the person you should consult with on these issues is Dr
Piero Olliaro, TDR, WHO HQ, to whom I copy this message.
Personally, I believe chances for success are slim, if people have to
take two different kinds of tablets; however, it will of course be better
to provide them in a single blister than separately. Blisters with 2
different kinds of tablets have been used for years for contraceptive
pills.
In Cambodia, we are currently working on a blister containing
mefloquine and artesunate tablets, designed for 4 different
age-groups. It's a little complicated. To this end we collaborate with a
Thai company, Tanit, which produces a relatively simple
"medium-tech" machine, that can be used for packing tablets in such
blisters. Tanit produces the moulds according to our designs. If you
wish, I can provide more details about this company.
I suggest you write to INF/CTD.DOC, WHO HQ
<denherderp@who.ch> requesting a copy of the document
WHO/MAL/98.1086, if you do not have it already.
With kind regards,
Dr Allan Schapira, Regional Adviser in Malaria
WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific
P.O.Box 2932, 1099 Manila, Philippines
Tel.: 63-2-528 9945 (direct), 528 8001 (general)
Fax: 63-2-521 1036, e-mail: SCHAPIRAA@WHO.ORG.PH
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.