Assessing antimalarial efficacy in a time of change to artemisinin-based combination therapies: the role of Médecins Sans Frontières

Conducting operational research within a non governmental organization: the example of Medecins Sans Frontieres

Like many other non governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide assistance to vulnerable populations living in difficult and resource-limited settings, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is confronted with situations for which proven, effective interventions are often lacking and/or where there is need for strong advocacy for improving medical care. As a result, MSF has become an important contributor to health research, and has dedicated resources to guide operational research by establishing its own Ethics Review Board, an innovation fund, an online publications repository and by regularly contributing to major scientific conferences. However, this increased research activity has led to concern that priorities and resources may be diverted away from the essential mandate of care provision for NGOs. In response, this article discusses the potential role operational research can play within medical NGOs such as MSF, and highlights the relevance of operational research, the essential elements of developing it within the organisation and some of the perceived barriers and solutions.

Access to Medicines in Resource-limited Settings: The End of a Golden Decade?

Strong international mobilization and political will drove a golden decade for global health. Key initiatives over the last decade include setting of health-related Millennium Development Goals; the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health; the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health affirming countries' rights to protect public health when implementing patent rules; and the creation of product development partnerships to address neglected areas of research and development. Significant progress was made in reducing the incidence of and morbidity and mortality from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, with a major impact made through increased access to medicines. Antiretroviral treatment for HIV was expanded to 6.6 million people, and medication prices were reduced significantly through generic competition. However, donor support has started to decline at a time when many patients still wait for treatment and the prices of needed newer medicines are on the increase due to patent protection. TB incidence has started to decrease, but progress in diagnosis and treatment of multi-drug-resistant TB has been slow due to complexity of treatment and high drug costs. Promising new TB drugs in development need to be introduced rapidly and appropriately while treatment is being expanded. The introduction of more affordable artemisinin combination therapies for malaria contributed to significantly reducing malaria incidence and mortality, but challenges remain in ensuring that the latest recommendations for treating severe malaria are implemented. Looking to the next decade, there is a worrisome mismatch between additional health priorities accompanied by shifting burdens of disease that need to be addressed and dwindling political attention and financial support. Difficulties in producing and guaranteeing access to affordable medicines are expected from a changing pharmaceutical market where an appropriate balance between trade and health has not been found. Systematic changes through a global framework for research and development and access are needed to support increased innovation and access to the health tools of the next decade.

Is operational research delivering the goods? The journey to success in low-income countries

Operational research in low-income countries has a key role in filling the gap between what we know from research and what we do with that knowledge-the so-called know-do gap, or implementation gap. Planned research that does not tangibly affect policies and practices is ineffective and wasteful, especially in settings where resources are scarce and disease burden is high. Clear parameters are urgently needed to measure and judge the success of operational research. We define operational research and its relation with policy and practice, identify why operational research might fail to affect policy and practice, and offer possible solutions to address these shortcomings. We also propose measures of success for operational research. Adoption and use of these measures could help to ensure that operational research better changes policy and practice and improves health-care delivery and disease programmes.

[Subsidized artemisinin based combination treatments for Africa]

Malaria-associated mortality and morbidity have increased in recent decades, with the worldwide spread of chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistant parasites. Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) have been proposed as an alternative to conventional antimalarial drugs. ACTs are effective against multidrug-resistant infections, work quickly, are safe and well tolerated, and seem to decrease transmission by inactivating gametocytes. The affordable medicines facility-malaria (AMFm) - an initiative aiming at increasing the availability of affordable ACTs through public and private practice - is trying to accelerate the large-scale use of ACT worldwide. This began with an initial pilot phase in a selected group of African countries. However, the epidemiology of malaria, the economic context, and healthcare infrastructure of African countries differ considerably from those prevailing in Asia, where ACTs were first implemented in the 1990s. ACT implementation in Africa must therefore be accompanied by control and operational measures to maintain the efficacy of ACT and to protect patients against misuse. We discuss the expected benefits of the AMFm initiative in Africa and stress the importance of dealing with operational issues before implementation in the field, focusing particularly on drug resistance.

Squalene: A natural triterpene for use in disease management and therapy

Squalene is a natural lipid belonging to the terpenoid family and a precursor of cholesterol biosynthesis. It is synthesized in humans and also in a wide array of organisms and substances, from sharks to olives and even bran, among others. Because of its significant dietary benefits, biocompatibility, inertness, and other advantageous properties, squalene is extensively used as an excipient in pharmaceutical formulations for disease management and therapy. In addition, squalene acts as a protective agent and has been shown to decrease chemotherapy-induced side-effects. Moreover, squalene alone exhibits chemopreventive activity. Although it is a weak inhibitor of tumor cell proliferation, it contributes either directly or indirectly to the treatment of cancer due to its potentiation effect. In addition, squalene enhances the immune response to various associated antigens, and it is therefore being investigated for vaccine delivery applications. Since this triterpene is well absorbed orally, it has been used to improve the oral delivery of therapeutic molecules. All of these qualities have rendered squalene a potentially interesting excipient for pharmaceutical applications, especially for the delivery of vaccines, drugs, genes, and other biological substances. This paper is the first review of its kind and offers greater insight into squalene's direct or indirect contribution to disease management and therapy.

Varying efficacy of artesunate+amodiaquine and artesunate+sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo: a report of two in-vivo studies

BACKGROUND

Very few data on anti-malarial efficacy are available from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). DRC changed its anti-malarial treatment policy to amodiaquine (AQ) and artesunate (AS) in 2005.

METHODS

The results of two in vivo efficacy studies, which tested AQ and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) monotherapies and AS+SP and AS+AQ combinations in Boende (Equatorial province), and AS+SP, AS+AQ and SP in Kabalo (Katanga province), between 2003 and 2004 are presented. The methodology followed the WHO 2003 protocol for assessing the efficacy of anti-malarials in areas of high transmission.

RESULTS

Out of 394 included patients in Boende, the failure rates on day 28 after PCR-genotyping adjustment of AS+SP and AS+AQ were estimated as 24.6% [95% CI: 16.6-35.5] and 15.1% [95% CI: 8.6-25.7], respectively. For the monotherapies, failure rates were 35.9% [95% CI: 27.0-46.7] for SP and 18.3% [95% CI: 11.6-28.1] for AQ. Out of 207 patients enrolled in Kabalo, the failure rate on day 28 after PCR-genotyping adjustment was 0 [1-sided 95% CI: 5.8] for AS+SP and AS+AQ [1-sided 95% CI: 6.2]. It was 19.6% [95% CI: 11.4-32.7] for SP monotherapy.

CONCLUSION

The finding of varying efficacy of the same combinations at two sites in one country highlights one difficulty of implementing a uniform national treatment policy in a large country. The poor efficacy of AS+AQ in Boende should alert the national programme to foci of resistance and emphasizes the need for systems for the prospective monitoring of treatment efficacy at sentinel sites in the country.

Ethics without borders

The PLoS Medicine Editors discuss the difficulties encountered by nongovernmental organizations when they conduct research, and how ethical oversight of such research needs to be rigorous, but also pragmatic.