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Berlin, April 29, 2010 – Malaria is an insidious parasitic disease that infects humans. Caused from the bite of an unassuming carrier – the mosquito, the death toll is alarming. Malaria literally infects more than 500 million people per year and kills more than 1 million annually, mainly children under 5 years
old.
HC Berlin Pharma AG, a company listed on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, today announced that its major shareholder Eastland Medical Systems Ltd (Eastland) has published the positive results of the clinical trial of the product ArTiMist™. The sublingual spray (applied under the tongue) is a revolutionary patented technology that will make a significant difference in reducing deaths in young children. HC Berlin Pharma AG possesses the manufacturing rights for ArTiMist™.
Whilst traditional treatments can be effective against malaria in adults, young children are particularly susceptible to severe or complicated malaria and speed of delivery is critical to saving lives. It is a sad fact that many children die because of delays in getting to a hospital or medical clinic where help can be given. This is a daunting prospect for families with children given that complicated malaria can kill a child within 24 hours.
Eastland’s recently completed clinical trials in Rwanda comparing ArTiMist™ with the current treatment, intravenous quinine, was targeted at children with severe malaria. The results showed that ArTiMist™ rapidly kills the malaria parasites and is safe and well tolerated in patients. The rapid absorption of ArTiMist™ corresponded well to parasitic reduction and the clinical response of patients.
Not only has the study achieved a similar success to intravenous infusion, which is expensive to administer, the spray application of ArTiMist™ under the tongue can be delivered by untrained personnel. As such, ArTiMist™ can provide a rapid and effective first line treatment against severe or complicated malaria in children where time is of the essence.
Further, ArTiMist™ is particularly valuable and effective in patients with advanced malaria where oral drugs are impractical due to vomiting and diarrhoea or where the patient has become comatosed.
Scientist Calvin Ross, inventor of ArTiMist™ and director of Eastland stated: “Accessibility to and early administration of this new treatment ArTiMist™ will be seen as a major advantage in reducing the majority of deaths from severe malaria in children.”
As a consequence of the successful ArTiMist™ clinical trials UK consultants ProtoPharma Ltd will now be engaged to conduct an extended study to confirm the results in a larger group of patients. The extended clinical trials are expected to commence later this year.
Editor’s Notes
Malaria is a serious, infectious disease spread by female Anophele mosquitoes. According to the World Malaria Report 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that about half of the global population (3.3bn) is at risk of getting malaria with 247 million malaria cases reported worldwide and almost 900,000 fatalities. Of the malaria cases reported approximately 91 % of the people suffering from malaria live in Africa. 85 % of all malaria deaths are of children <5 years of age with a child under 5 dying every 30 seconds. In the African region 90 % of the malaria deaths are concentrated in 18 countries. The major infection regions include Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo, Nigeria and
Tanzania.
As just mentioned, young children bear the brunt of malaria mortality and for those children who survive an episode of severe malaria without having received adequate treatment, there is the risk that they may end-up suffering from learning impairments or brain damage.
The addressable market for ArTiMist™ is large. It is estimated that alone there are over 90 million children under the age of 5 (the most vulnerable patient population) in sub-Sahara Africa at “high risk” of contracting malaria. It is further reported that children are prone to between 1.6-5.4 episodes of malaria each year.
Malaria is a key barrier to economical development. A number of international initiatives have been developed and adopted to facilitate the procurement and supply of anti-malarials.
The full text of the release regarding the results of the clinical trial can be found on www.hcberlinpharma.ag and on the website of Eastland Medical Systems Ltd (www.eastlandmedical.com), the major shareholder of HC Berlin Pharma AG who carries out the procedures for the approval of ArTiMist™.