title: A pharmacokinetic approach to assess artemisinin-naphthoquine combination therapy for uncomplicated pediatric malaria.
abstract: Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have been adopted as the first line of treatment against malaria in nearly all malaria-endemic countries, mainly as a result of Plasmodium falciparum infection, as this species of malaria parasite has developed resistance to most of the available non-artemisinin antimalarial drugs. Artemisinin-naphthoquine (ART-NQ, also named as ARCO™; Kunming Pharmaceuticals, Kunming, China) is one of the several currently available ACTs that show a promising approach to dealing with drug-resistant malaria rather than monotherapies. Unlike other ACTs, ART-NQ requires either a single-dose treatment or a two-dose treatment within 24 h against uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria; however, this was mainly validated in adults rather than children. Batty et al. performed the first pharmacokinetic study of ART-NQ combination therapy for uncomplicated pediatric malaria, and the authors' results are described and discussed below.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, People's Republic of China. liurong19840901@whu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hui-Fen
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Ming-Sen
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000378:metabolism*; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000378:metabolism*; D009285:Naphthoquinones / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D004338:Drug Combinations; D009285:Naphthoquinones; C543979:artemisinin-naphthoquine combination