SANCHITA SHARMA

A new drug called Krintafel (tafenoquine) got the US Food and Drug Administration nod on Friday to treat P. vivax malaria, which accounts for 34% of the estimated 13 million cases in India. Developed by a not-for-profit research and industry partnership, it is the first new treatment for P. vivax malaria in more than 60 years and is all set to get fasttracked approvals for use globally.

Krintafel is a single-dose, ‘radical cure’ treatment for ages 16 years and older that kills dormant infection in the liver to prevent relapse. The P. vivax parasite can form hypnozoites inside human liver cells that stay dormant for several months without causing symptoms or being detectable in blood tests. The parasite’s capacity to remain latent lead to continued malaria transmission and relapse i n roughly 30% cases.

P.vivax predominantly causes disease and outbreaks in urban areas, with the most cases reported between June and September, followed by a second, smaller peak i n March, possibly because of relapses.

India had an estimated 1.31 million malaria cases and 23,990 deaths in India, where more than half of the population (698 million) is at risk of infection, according to the World Malaria Report 2017 by World Health Organisation (WHO). India accounted for 6% of all malaria cases in the world, 6% of the deaths, and 51% of the global P. vivax cases.

Unlike P. falciparum, which developed drug resistance in the 1990s, P. vivax is sensitive to treatment. Chloroquine combined with primaquine has been the standard radical curative course for more than half a century.