Arjen Dondorp, MORU
This presentation was provided remotely by Arjen Dondorp from MORU. He elaborated on the triple ACTs that are aimed at treating and preventing multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria. The ACTs are as follows: artemether-lumefantrine, artesunate-mefloquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, artesunate-amodiaquine, artesunate-sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine, and artesunate-pyronaridine. Two new antimalarial drugs under development are spiroindolones and imidazolopiperazine, and artefenomel has been pulled from the market. Arjen explained that there are indications of potential impact of artemisinin resistance in the African context that necessitated pharmacological interventions, including triple therapies: AS/DHA-PPQ-MQ, AM-LUM-AQ, Arterolane-PPQ-MQ, AS-Pyr-Atovaquone-Proguanil. The main challenge of triple artemisinin-based therapy is “why deploy a triple ACT when conventional ACTs are still efficacious?” F