Scientists have unveiled two new treatments to help combat malaria’s growing resistance to existing drugs, a promising advance in fighting the deadly disease.
Swiss drugmaker Novartis said a trial of its next-generation treatment in 12 African countries had performed well, though the drug is a year away from being publicly available. Researchers in Gabon, meanwhile, said a single-dose mixture of four anti-malarial medications led to 93% of patients being parasite-free within 28 days.
More than 600,000 people — mostly children — die from malaria every year, with 95% of those deaths occurring in Africa. Besides averting hundreds of thousands of fatalities, reducing malaria by 90% in the continent could boost its GDP by $16 billion a year, the World Health Organization said.
