By Lexi Elo
Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals Inc. has granted Pierre Fabre Laboratories the exclusive licence to register, distribute and promote the antimalarial drug Eurartesim® in Nigeria and 31 other African countries. The countries are Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, Madagascar, Togo, Benin, RDC, Congo, Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, Mauritania, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia, Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia.
Eurartesim® is a fixed-dose artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) comprising dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine. In endemic areas, associations allow the complete disappearance of the parasite faster than other antimalarial drugs and are therefore recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to limit the emergence of resistant plasmodium strains.
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These combinations are also recommended in relation to drug combinations under one blister or in bulk, because they promote treatment adherence and reduce the risk of taking medicine alone, which would lead to increasing drug resistance.
The European quality standards drug has been developed by the Italian pharmaceutical company Sigma-Tau, an ALFASIGMA Group company, in partnership with the not-for-profit research foundation Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).
Sigma-Tau General Manager Raffaele Sanguigni said “We are very happy to announce this important agreement for the distribution of Eurartesim®, the drug developed from our research activities in the field of antimalarial treatment”. The distribution territory will cover nearly all of Africa. We are committed to ensuring its registration and distribution in those countries where malaria is endemic”.
Eurartesim® was approved by the European Medicine Agency (EMA) in 2011 and is currently available throughout Europe. In Asia, it was first registered in 2012 in Cambodia, while in Africa, it has obtained marketing authorization in Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Eurartesim® is currently being registered in other countries and will soon become available in most of Africa.
Eurartesim® is a fixed-dose artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) comprising dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine. In endemic areas, associations allow the complete disappearance of the parasite faster than other antimalarial drugs and are therefore recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to limit the emergence of resistant plasmodium strains.
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These combinations are also recommended in relation to drug combinations under one blister or in bulk, because they promote treatment adherence and reduce the risk of taking medicine alone, which would lead to increasing drug resistance.
The European quality standards drug has been developed by the Italian pharmaceutical company Sigma-Tau, an ALFASIGMA Group company, in partnership with the not-for-profit research foundation Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).
Sigma-Tau General Manager Raffaele Sanguigni said “We are very happy to announce this important agreement for the distribution of Eurartesim®, the drug developed from our research activities in the field of antimalarial treatment”. The distribution territory will cover nearly all of Africa. We are committed to ensuring its registration and distribution in those countries where malaria is endemic”.
Eurartesim® was approved by the European Medicine Agency (EMA) in 2011 and is currently available throughout Europe. In Asia, it was first registered in 2012 in Cambodia, while in Africa, it has obtained marketing authorization in Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Eurartesim® is currently being registered in other countries and will soon become available in most of Africa.