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Novartis triples malaria treatment production

Date published: 19/01/2006

Novartis is in line to produce over 100 million treatment courses of Coartem this year, more than tripling the amount manufactured in 2005. The company will also be providing the drug at cost price for public sector use in developing countries where the disease is endemic.

Novartis chairman and chief executive Dr Daniel Vasella said: "Our production people worked 24 hours per day, seven days a week, in order to get this medicine to as many patients as possible in 2005. "Malaria-endemic countries can place orders for Coartem confident that Novartis has taken all the necessary steps to sustain supply of this life-saving drug."

To increase production Novartis has expanded manufacturing facilities in China and the US and increased extending supply agreements for raw materials and active ingredients. Coartem is currently the only pre-qualified, fixed-dose artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) and it is said to achieve cure rates of up to 95 per cent, while also having limited side effects.

Globally there are thought to be as many as 500 million new cases of malaria each year, causing more than one million deaths annually, 90 per cent of which occur in children in Africa.

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