GlaxoSmithKline publishes detailed study results for malaria treatment

UK-based GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) have published positive Phase III data from two studies of Krintafel (tafenoquine) for the radical cure of malaria.

The trials tested single-dose tafenoquine as a treatment for the Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) strain of malaria. The results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Based on the results from the studies, Krintafel was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in July 2018, and subsequently in Australia, where it is marketed as Kozenis.

The disease is estimated to cause around 7.5 million clinical infections every year. The existing standard of care, primaquine, must be taken for 14 days, making compliance often low in endemic settings.