Ian Turner comments on Substandard and falsified antimalarials in sub-Saharan Africa: Health burden and potential interventions

[Ian Turner]

Thanks for publishing this! Do you mind defining what an ACT is?

(Disclosure, I used to work as a contractor for Living Goods).

[Mo Putera]

Artemisinin-based combination therapies. Quoting RP’s report:

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are currently recommended by WHO as the first-line treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria.¹¹ ACTs are a combination of an artemisinin derivative (e.g., artesunate) and a partner drug.¹² Both compounds in ACTs function to eliminate the Plasmodium parasites from the bloodstream (WHO website, 2022).

ACT drugs are viewed as a “prime suspect for counterfeiting” since artemisinin is significantly more expensive to produce compared to older, synthetic forms of malaria medicine (Nyqvist, 2020, p. 7; Kaur et al., 2016, p. 1).