Treatment Efficacy and Malaria TRANSmission After Artemisinin Combination Therapy (TRANSACT)

Summary

Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) with artemether lumefantrine (AL) is currently the first line treatment policy in Tanzania. AL is an efficacious drug that also has the capacity to reduce malaria transmission to mosquitoes. Nevertheless, there is concern about the development of parasite resistance against AL and there have been very few clinical trials that compared different ACT regimens. A recent clinical trial shows that the combination of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) may be more efficacious than AL and may have a more pronounced beneficial effect on post-treatment malaria transmission. Screening for molecular markers that are related to parasite susceptibility to ACT drugs and to post-ACT treatment malaria transmission can assist in preventing the development and spread of ACT resistance. In the current study, the investigators compared AL and DP for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The investigators endpoints are * clinical efficacy * post-treatment gametocytaemia by molecular techniques * post-treatment malaria transmission.

Timeline

Start

2009-04

Primary completion

2010-05

Completion

2010-05

Publications

• Background Bousema JT, Schneider P, Gouagna LC, Drakeley CJ, Tostmann A, Houben R, Githure JI, Ord R, Sutherland CJ, Omar SA, Sauerwein RW. Moderate effect of artemisinin-based combination therapy on transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. J Infect Dis. 2006 Apr 15;193(8):1151-9. doi: 10.1086/503051. Epub 2006 Mar 15.
• Background Hallett RL, Sutherland CJ, Alexander N, Ord R, Jawara M, Drakeley CJ, Pinder M, Walraven G, Targett GA, Alloueche A. Combination therapy counteracts the enhanced transmission of drug-resistant malaria parasites to mosquitoes. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004 Oct;48(10):3940-3. doi: 10.1128/AAC.48.10.3940-3943.2004.
• Muwanguzi J, Henriques G, Sawa P, Bousema T, Sutherland CJ, Beshir KB. Lack of K13 mutations in Plasmodium falciparum persisting after artemisinin combination therapy treatment of Kenyan children. Malar J. 2016 Jan 22;15:36. doi: 10.1186/s12936-016-1095-y.
• Sawa P, Shekalaghe SA, Drakeley CJ, Sutherland CJ, Mweresa CK, Baidjoe AY, Manjurano A, Kavishe RA, Beshir KB, Yussuf RU, Omar SA, Hermsen CC, Okell L, Schallig HD, Sauerwein RW, Hallett RL, Bousema T. Malaria transmission after artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine: a randomized trial. J Infect Dis. 2013 Jun 1;207(11):1637-45. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jit077. Epub 2013 Mar 6.

Drugs

Indications