Comparison Of Novel 24 Tablets And 6 Tablet Of 80/480mg Artemether And Lumefantrine Combination

Artemisinin based combination (ACT) is the most used drug in the fight against malaria in Nigeria. Artemether and lumefantrine combination enjoy the largest market share for treating uncomplicated malaria. ACTs are known to improve cure rate, reduce the chance of relapse (recrudescence and reinfection), reduce the development of resistance and decrease transmission of drug resistant parasites.

Read Also: Dosing of artemether and lumefantrine combination

There are so many brands of artemether and lumefantrine combination in Nigeria. They come in different strengths and formulations for different weights and age. It is given with food as a six dose regimen of 20 mg artemether and 120 mg lumefantrine. It is given orally two times day for three days depending on body weight.

Persons above 35kg are given 80mg artemether and 480mg lumefantrine combination. The novel combination comes in the strength of 20mg artemether and 120mg lumefantrine. That means persons above 35kg will need four tablets taken two times a day for six days. That leaves us with 24 tablets in a pack.

Artemether And Lumefantrine tablet

The standard combination for persons above 35kg is a 80mg artemether and 480mg lumefantrine combination tablet. That means one tablet is taken two times a day for three days. That means six tablets for the complete dose. They call them forte, double strength (DS) or quantum satis (QS).

Artemether And Lumefantrine QS

A couple of people keep asking what the difference is. They wonder if the two will work equally. Well, the list is meant to clear your confusion.

Read Also: Why second dose of artemether and lumefantrine is given 8 hours interval

A research by Levèvre, G., et al did compare the bioequivalence of both the novel tablet of 24 and standard tablet of six tablets. They gave different persons the novel and standard and with their blood samples analyse if there was any significant difference. Turns out that both have the same bioequivalence that falls within standard variation.

In conclusion, in vivo dissolution of artemether and lumefantrine combination from novel tablets was not impacted by modification of the dosage strength. So adults and children above 35kg can use either the novel or standard tablet. You can find more about the research here: Lefèvre, G., Bhad, P., Jain, J.P. et al. Evaluation of two novel tablet formulations of artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem®) for bioequivalence in a randomized, open-label, two-period study. Malar J 12, 312 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-312