Electrocardiographic Safety of Repeated Monthly Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine as a Candidate for Mass Drug Administration.

ABSTRACT: Mass drug administration (MDA) of sequential rounds of antimalarial drugs is being considered for use as a tool for malaria elimination. As an effective and long-acting antimalarial, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PQP) appears to be suitable as a candidate for MDA. However, the absence of cardiac safety data following repeated administration hinders its use in the extended schedules proposed for MDA. We conducted an interventional study in Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea, using healthy individuals age 3 to 60 years who received a standard 3-day course of DHA-PQP on 3 consecutive months. Twelve-lead electrocardiography (ECG) readings were conducted predose and 4 h after the final dose of each month. The primary safety endpoint was QT interval correction (QTc using Fridericia's correctio

SUBMITTER: Millat-Martinez P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6256794 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature