Cherry-Flavored Malaria Drug Wins Taste Test in Novartis Study

Novartis AG plans to test a cherry- flavored version of its malaria drug Coartem in Africa after children preferred it to strawberry and orange varieties in a study.

Forty-eight healthy children between the ages of 7 and 10 years in Tanzania who sampled a dissolvable form of the drug rated the cherry version highest among the three flavors, according to a study in Malaria Journal. The cherry-flavored powder will now be tested in a larger trial among malaria- infected children in Africa, where children under 5 account for most deaths caused by the disease.

Coartem tablets are usually crushed for children and have a bitter taste that causes some of them to spit out or vomit the drug, researchers from Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis and Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute wrote in the research published in the journal on Sept. 3. That can lead to children receiving too little of the drug to clear the disease or too much when the dose is repeated, they said.

“There is an urgent need for alternative formulations that offer increased ease of administration, accuracy of dosing and compliance for infants and children,” the researchers wrote. “Even though the cherry fruit is not native to Africa, it is often found in soft drinks and other medications such as antibiotic syrups.”

A separate study among 48 healthy adults in France found that the powdered form of the drug was absorbed as well as crushed and whole tablets, indicating it should be equally effective at combating malaria, the authors wrote.

The children’s parents agreed to their participation in the trial, which was funded by Novartis and the Geneva-based Medicines for Malaria Venture, the study said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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