Sir
Your News story “Malaria breakthrough raises spectre of drug resistance” (Nature 440, 852–853; 200610.1038/440852b) raises concerns about a new source of artemisinin for treating malaria. The Institute for OneWorld Health (IOWH) strongly supports the World Health Organization guideline that uncomplicated falciparum malaria be treated with artemisinin combination therapies, and not by artemisinin alone as a monotherapy.
We are leading the product development effort for the Artemisinin Project in the developing world and will sell microbially derived artemisinin only for the manufacture of combination antimalarial therapies, except for treatments of severe malaria with parenteral formulations of artemisinin derivatives.
By leveraging the promise of synthetic biology, the IOWH and its partners hope to dramatically reduce the cost of antimalarials for the people who most need them.
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Hale, V. Supporting the use of artemisinin in combination. Nature 441, 282 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/441282d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/441282d
