The safety of amodiaquine use in pregnant women.
Few antimalarial drugs have been evaluated extensively in pregnancy because of fears over toxicity. However, increasing Plasmodium falciparum resistance to chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine makes finding alternative antimalarials that are safe and effective in pregnancy a priority. There is a renewed interest in amodiaquine as a potential candidate, particularly as a partner drug in artemisinin-based combination therapy. The available data suggest that, at standard dosages, amodiaquine is not teratogenic and that the adverse events associated with taking amodiaquine in pregnancy are not greater than those associated with falciparum malaria in pregnancy. Thus, amodiaquine in combination with other antimalarial drugs may be useful for malaria treatment in pregnancy, but inadequate data on its safety and pharmacokinetics in pregnancy limits its deployment for intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy.
Tagbor
Harry K
HK
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Department of Community Health, School of Medical Sciences, Private Mail Bag, University Post Office, Kumasi, Ghana. Harry.Tagbor@lshtm.ac.uk
Chandramohan
Daniel
D
Greenwood
Brian
B
D000655:Amodiaquine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology
D000962:Antimalarials; D000655:Amodiaquine