[The future outlook of antimalarials].
Spreading of resistance to chloroquine in the early 1960's had a dramatic impact on malaria treatment worldwide. The development of new antimalarial drugs, at first driven by political interests, is now centred on the need to limit disease extension due to a strong sensibilisation by NGO and the medias. Difficulties in using antimalarial drugs are mostly the result of geographic variabilities of drug resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to existing drugs, implying a decision "à la carte" for malaria treatment in each endemic country. To fight against resistance situations, the NGO Médecins sans frontières and the World Health Organization have launched the concept of multiple antimalarial drug therapies based on artemisinin derivatives. Such strategy has been initiated in order to limit extension of drug resistance to existing antimalarial treatments, waiting for a new innovative drug able to provide a "universal" treatment worldwide which does not exist at present.
TropiVal, équipe d'accueil EA 3677 Bases thérapeutiques des inflammations et des infections, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex. pascal.millet@u-bordeaux2.fr
Pascal
P
Millet
D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy
D000962:Antimalarials