The WHO recommends a 3-day regimen of drugs called artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) to treat uncomplicated malaria caused by the P. falciparum malaria parasite (1). However, some patients, particularly children, may not take the treatment on all 3 days (2). A single dose could be a better treatment since only one dose is required.

This clinical study was carried out in 5 sub-Saharan African countries. Recruited patients were randomly (treatment allocated by chance, similar to flipping a coin) given one of 4 treatments: 400 mg ferroquine (FQ) alone or in combination with another drug, artefenomel, at doses of 300, 600 or 1000 mg. Patients were between 14 and 69 years of age with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria and parasite numbers between 3,000 and 50,000 per μL of blood.

The primary objective of the study was to see if a relationship could be detected between the amount of artefenomel in the blood following administration of the different doses of artefenomel (in combination with FQ), or FQ administered alone, and the number of patients who were cured or not cured of their original infection, as measured by the absence or presence of parasites in the blood 28 days after treatment.

140 patients entered the study and were given treatment.

FQ alone, and in combination with artefenomel was well tolerated with safety findings aligned with what was known about the drugs from previous studies. Seven patients had an increase in some biological measurements which could reflect a muscle problem, although no symptoms of actual muscle problems such as weakness, tenderness or pain were seen. There was no clinically relevant effect of the drug treatments on the function of the heart.

1. World Health Organization (WHO). Guidelines for the treatment of Malaria. Third edition. 2015. ISBN: 978 92 4 154912 7.

2. World Health Organization (WHO). Management of severe malaria: a practical handbook. Third edition. 2012. ISBN: 978924154852 6.