While efforts to control and eliminate malaria have made great strides during the past five years, the looming specter of drug resistance heightens the importance of continued research and development for new tools to assure continued success, according to malaria scientists and public health experts appearing today on Capitol Hill.
The briefing, sponsored by the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), PATH, and Malaria No More, was hosted in cooperation with Senators Sam Brownback (KS), Richard Durbin (IL), and Patty Murray (WA), and Congressman Adam Smith (WA). Experts from across the malaria community urged Congress to increase funding for malaria programs focused on developing new antimalarial medications and vaccines.
"Recent progress has emboldened the malaria community to speak of malaria elimination and eradication, and plans have been developed to make this long-term aspiration a reality," commented Dr. Kent Campbell, director of PATH's Malaria Control Program and chair of the ASTMH Advocacy and Policy Committee. "Eliminating malaria will take decades, and success will not be possible without consistent investment in the development of improved tools for controlling malaria. Drug and insecticide resistance is a reality; we need a vaccine that can block infection. If we do not invest in these programs to develop treatment and prevention, there will be devastating effects on the progress made thus far."
Experts pointed out that drug treatment for malaria has historically involved identifying and developing new drugs that had multiple decades of effectiveness, only to witness resistance emerging over time. According to Dr. Alan Magill, director of Experimental Therapeutics at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and chair of Clinical Groups at ASTMH, "Today, the best drugs we have remaining to treat malaria are the artemisinin-containing combination regimens, which are saving lives every day. But recent reports from the Thai-Cambodian border show delayed parasite clearance with the artemisinins which may be the first sign of emerging drug resistance." Dr. Magill points out that resistance to artemisinins may be a result of illegal availability, sale, and use of artemisinin monotherapies, a practice that has been condemned by the World Health Organization, which calls for policies to eliminate the practice that threatens success in the war on malaria.
Hope on the Horizon
Experts at the Capitol Hill briefing called for further funding for research into vaccines that could ultimately block malaria infection. Currently, hope hangs on RTS,S, the world's most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate which is now in Phase III testing. The trial will involve as many as 16,000 young children and infants and is underway at sites in seven African countries, including three sites in Kenya.