New hope

India has scored an important victory in its long-drawn battle against malaria. It has come up with an indigenously developed cure for malaria.

The achievement is the outcome of collaboration between pharmaceutical giant, Ranbaxy, the Department of Science and Technology and the Indian Council for Medical Research.  Clinical trials of the drug in India, Tanzania and Thailand have indicated a 95 per cent success rate. The development of a powerful weapon in the fight against malaria will provide hope to lakhs of people who are struck by the disease annually.  Mortality rate for malaria is quite high.  A recent India-Canada study indicated that the number of malaria deaths in India is grossly underreported by the government. It claimed that malaria takes the lives of around 2,05,000 Indians every year.  In the circumstances, the new anti-malaria drug could be a huge life-saver.

 One of the big advantages of the new drug is that it will be easily available. Hitherto treatment for malaria consisted of artemisinin-based drugs which are substances derived from plants. Hence their availability was restricted by crop output. The new drug is a combination of two molecules – the short-acting arterolane and the long-acting piperaquine. Since arterolane is of synthetic origin, its production can be scaled up easily. Hence, shortages which often plagued malaria treatment hitherto might be a thing of the past.

But how accessible will it be? The number of lives the new drug saves will depend on its accessibility i.e. its price. Treatment consists of three tablets which the patient must take over three days. Three tablets have been priced at Rs 130. How many Indians will be able to afford this? The pricing seems rather steep. Most of those who are struck by malaria live in forested areas like Chhattisgarh for instance. It is India’s poorest that are the most vulnerable to malaria. They are unlikely to be able to afford the new drug.

Collaboration enabled the development of the new drug. Ranbaxy must work with the government to ensure that the drug is accessible to the poorest. It must be made available for free through the public health system. Importantly, India must remember the plight of people in other developing countries. Like Indians, they too have suffered from over-pricing and exploitation by western pharmaceutical companies. Through its affordable pricing of the new anti-malarial drug India should signal to the world that it is a gentle giant.