Similarity And Difference Between Coartem And Lonart

The two most popular antimalarials in Nigeria are Coartem and Lonart.

Similarity Between Lonart Vs Coartem

They both contain artemether and lumefantrine. They both have different strengths for different age groups. They include 24, 18, 12 and 6 tablet of 20/120mg artemether and lumefantrine and 80/480mg of same active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). These drugs also come in different formulation. Both have tablet for all age group and dispersible tablet for children.

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Difference

Coartem

Coartem

Coartem is made by Swiss pharmaceutical company known as Novartis international AG. It was internationally licenced and approved in 1999. That was after a series of tests and research in collaboration with chinese scientist.

The World health organisation (WHO) added artemether and lumefantrine combination in essential medicine list (EML) in 2004 and EML for children in 2007. Coartem was first pre-qualified by WHO in 2004 and the United States of America (USA) federal drug agency (FDA) in 2007.

It's partner with medicine for malaria ventures (MMV) to produce a suitable dosage for children saw more than 250 million malaria treatments delivered by 2009. Coartem can be found in more than 90 countries.

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Lonart

Lonart

Lonart is made in India by Bliss GVS pharma limited founded in 1984. Lonart can be found in over 60 countries with a strong drive to increase that number. Lonart is marketed in Nigeria by greenlife pharmaceuticals and was introduced in 2006. That was when Coartem was very cheap with WHO support. But Lonart wide acceptance by Nigeria was massive.

Lonart have adult strength in suppository format although it is not in Nigeria. Their suspension or syrup is readily available. These two dosage formulation is not available in Coartem.

Today, Coartem and Lonart can be found in most community pharmacy shops in Nigeria. The price of Coartem is slightly higher than that of Lonart of the same strength, quantity or formulation. The Coartem pack is always yellow and white and that of lonart is green and white. But children pack Cary other colour.