Malaria trial
5 August 2003
A Wellcome Trust-funded team based in Thailand is conducting the largest ever clinical trial in severe falciparum malaria, which kills over a million people each year.
To date there is no agreement about which is the best drug to treat this form of malaria. Although quinine is still the most widely used treatment, many people believe that artesunate, a drug derived from a Chinese herbal remedy, qinghaosu, is more effective. However, there is as yet no proof of this.
Professor Nick White and team plan to settle the question once and for all. They will conduct the largest ever randomised control trial in severe falciparum malaria - more than twice as big as any previous study - comparing artesunate and quinine. Over a three-year period, they will enroll 2000 patients at hospitals in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and India, give them either artesunate or quinine, and compare the number of deaths or severe complications in both groups of patients.
The trial will be coordinated by the Wellcome Trust-funded research programme in Thailand, which has longstanding experience in the study of malaria. As well as providing evidence about the optimum treatment for falciparum malaria, the study will strengthen the research base by helping to train indigenous staff.
See also
External links
- The Centre for Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, UK (Details of the Unit in Thailand)