Eurartesim® awarded MMV Project of the Year 2011
The project team for Eurartesim®, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PQP), the first novel chemical entity developed by MMV (in partnership with Sigma-Tau) was awarded MMV Project of the Year 2011 at the opening dinner event of MMV’s 12th Stakeholders' Meeting in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, 6 November.
MMV established the “Project of the Year” award more than a decade ago to recognize the efforts, dedication and contribution of the selected project team for their excellence and achievement in the fight against malaria. The winner is selected by MMV’s Expert Scientific Advisory Committee, a group of world renowned experts in malaria and drug development.
Representatives of the Sigma-Tau project team were overjoyed to receive the award: Prof. Trevor Jones, Dr Marco Corsi and Dr Andreas Diedenhofen.
Having received European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval in 2011, Eurartesim can now be used and deployed widely. The first shipment of 160,000 packages of Eurartesim to a malaria-endemic country were delivered to Cambodia in July this year, where it is hoped the medicine will help to delay the development of artemisinin drug resistance emerging in the region.
Eurartesim offers important advantages over currently used artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs): it is easier to administer – once-a-day for 3 days as opposed to twice-a-day – and, owing to the long half-life of piperaquine, it also offers better and longer protection from new malaria infections.1,2
1 Bassat Q et al. “Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine and artemether-lumefantrine for treating uncomplicated malaria in African children: a randomised, non-inferiority trial.” PLoS One. 4(11):e7871 (2009).
2 Valecha N et al. “An open-label, randomised study of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine versus artesunate-mefloquine for falciparum malaria in Asia.” PLoS One. 5(7):e11880 (2010).