Safe and effective antimalarial drugs with new methods of action are urgently needed as resistance to conventional drug therapies such as chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine has created a severe public-health problem, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
The antibiotic fosmidomycin has been shown to be effective in laboratory studies by its inhibition of a key enzyme produced by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Peter Kremsner from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and colleagues administered the drug for 5, 4, or 3 days (1.2 g every 8hours), in nine, eight, and ten malaria patients in Gabon. The drug was well tolerated, and cure rates after two weeks were 89%, 88%, and 60%, for treatment durations of 5, 4, and 3 days, respectively. Parasite elimination and reduction in fever was rapid.
Peter Kremsner comments: "These data suggest that fosmidomycin is a safe and effective treatment for malaria in adult Africans if given for 4 days or more. Further studies on combinations of fosmidomycin with other antimalarial drugs are needed to assess its safety and efficacy in children and to boost efficacy while benefiting from a shorter and simpler treatment regimen."
The Lancet