Repurposing Know-how for Drug Development: Case Studies from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

In pursuing novel therapeutic solutions, drug discovery and development rely on efficiently utilising existing knowledge and resources. Repurposing know-how, a strategy that capitalises on previously acquired information and expertise, has emerged as a powerful approach to accelerate drug discovery and development processes, often at a fraction of the costs of de novo developments. For 80 years, collaborating within a network of partnerships, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) has been working along a value chain from innovation to validation and application to combat poverty-related diseases. This article presents an overview of selected know-how repurposing initiatives conducted at Swiss TPH with a particular emphasis on the exploration of drug development pathways in the context of neglected tropical diseases and other infectious diseases of poverty, such as schistosomiasis, malaria and human African trypanosomiasis.

Population Pharmacokinetics of Antimalarial Naphthoquine in Combination with Artemisinin in Tanzanian Children and Adults: Dose Optimization.

The combination antimalarial therapy of artemisinin-naphthoquine (ART-NQ) was developed as a single-dose therapy, aiming to improve adherence relative to the multiday schedules of other artemisinin combination therapies. The pharmacokinetics of ART-NQ has not been well characterized, especially in children. A pharmacokinetic study was conducted in adults and children over 5 years of age (6 to 10, 11 to 17, and ≥18 years of age) with uncomplicated malaria in Tanzania. The median weights for the three age groups were 20, 37.5, and 55 kg, respectively. Twenty-nine patients received single doses of 20 mg/kg of body weight for artemisinin and 8 mg/kg for naphthoquine, and plasma drug concentrations were assessed at 13 time points over 42 days from treatment. We used nonlinear mixed-effects modeling to interpret the data, and allometric scaling was employed to adjust for the effect of body size. The pharmacokinetics of artemisinin was best described by one-compartment model and that of naphthoquine by a two-compartment disposition model. Clearance values for a typical patient (55-kg body weight and 44.3-kg fat-free mass) were estimated as 66.7 L/h (95% confidence interval [CI], 57.3 to 78.5 L/h) for artemisinin and 44.2 L/h (95% CI, 37.9 to 50.6 L/h) for naphthoquine. Nevertheless, we show via simulation that patients weighing ≥70 kg achieve on average a 30% lower day 7 concentration compared to a 48-kg reference patient at the doses tested, suggesting dose increases may be warranted to ensure adequate exposure. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT01930331.).

The empirical support for the radical cure strategy for eliminating Plasmodium vivax in China.

BACKGROUND: With the recent certification by World Health Organization that the People's Republic of China is malaria-free, it is timely to consider how elimination of malaria was completed in People's Republic of China over the last 7 decades. Of the four widespread species of human malaria, Plasmodium vivax was the last to be eliminated by the national program of China. Understanding the incubation periods and relapses patterns of P. vivax through historical data from China is relevant for planning disease elimination in other malaria-endemic countries, with residual P. vivax malaria. METHODS: We collated data from both published and unpublished malaria parasite inoculation experiments conducted between 1979 and 1988 with parasites from different regions of the People's Republic of China. The studies had at least two years of follow-up. We categorized P. vivax incubation patterns via cluster analysis and investigated relapse studies by adapting a published within-host relapse model for P. vivax temperate phenotypes. Each model was fitted using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm initialized by hierarchical model-based agglomerative clustering. RESULTS: P. vivax parasites from the seven studies of five southern and central provinces in the People's Republic of China covering geographies ranging from the south temperate to north tropical zones. The parasites belonged to two distinct phenotypes: short- (10-19 days) or long-incubation (228-371 days). The larger the sporozoite inoculation, the more likely short incubation periods were observed, and with more subsequent relapses (Spearman's rank correlation between the number of inoculated sporozoites and the number of relapses of 0.51, p-value = 0.0043). The median of the posterior distribution for the duration of the first relapse interval after primary infection was 168.5 days (2.5% quantile: 89.7; 97.5% quantile: 227.69 days). The predicted survival proportions from the within-host model fit well to the original relapse data. The within-host model also captures the hypnozoite activation rates and relapse frequencies, which consequently influences the transmission possibility of P. vivax. CONCLUSIONS: Through a within-host model, we demonstrate the importance of clearance of hypnozoites. A strategy of two rounds of radical hypnozoite clearance via mass drug administration (MDA) deployed during transmission (summer and autumn) and non-transmission (late spring) seasons had a pronounced effect on outbreaks during the malaria epidemics in China. This understanding can inform malaria control strategies in other endemic countries with similar settings.

Patient variability in the blood-stage dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum captured by clustering historical data.

BACKGROUND: Mathematical models provide an understanding of the dynamics of a Plasmodium falciparum blood-stage infection (within-host models), and can predict the impact of control strategies that affect the blood-stage of malaria. However, the dynamics of P. falciparum blood-stage infections are highly variable between individuals. Within-host models use different techniques to capture this inter-individual variation. This struggle may be unnecessary because patients can be clustered according to similar key within-host dynamics. This study aimed to identify clusters of patients with similar parasitaemia profiles so that future mathematical models can include an improved understanding of within-host variation. METHODS: Patients' parasitaemia data were analyzed to identify (i) clusters of patients (from 35 patients) that have a similar overall parasitaemia profile and (ii) clusters of patients (from 100 patients) that have a similar first wave of parasitaemia. For each cluster analysis, patients were clustered based on key features which previous models used to summarize parasitaemia dynamics. The clustering analyses were performed using a finite mixture model. The centroid values of the clusters were used to parameterize two established within-host models to generate parasitaemia profiles. These profiles (that used the novel centroid parameterization) were compared with profiles that used individual-specific parameterization (as in the original models), as well as profiles that ignored individual variation (using overall means for parameterization). RESULTS: To capture the variation of within-host dynamics, when studying the overall parasitaemia profile, two clusters efficiently grouped patients based on their infection length and the height of the first parasitaemia peak. When studying the first wave of parasitaemia, five clusters efficiently grouped patients based on the height of the peak and the speed of the clearance following the peak of parasitaemia. The clusters were based on features that summarize the strength of patient innate and adaptive immune responses. Parameterizing previous within host-models based on cluster centroid values accurately predict individual patient parasitaemia profiles. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that patients have personalized immune responses, which explains the variation of parasitaemia dynamics. Clustering can guide the optimal inclusion of within-host variation in future studies, and inform the design and parameterization of population-based models.

Parasite-Host Dynamics throughout Antimalarial Drug Development Stages Complicate the Translation of Parasite Clearance.

Ensuring continued success against malaria depends on a pipeline of new antimalarials. Antimalarial drug development utilizes preclinical murine and experimental human malaria infection studies to evaluate drug efficacy. A sequential approach is typically adapted, with results from each stage informing the design of the next stage of development. The validity of this approach depends on confidence that results from murine malarial studies predict the outcome of clinical trials in humans. Parasite clearance rates following treatment are key parameters of drug efficacy. To investigate the validity of forward predictions, we developed a suite of mathematical models to capture parasite growth and drug clearance along the drug development pathway and estimated parasite clearance rates. When comparing the three infection experiments, we identified different relationships of parasite clearance with dose and different maximum parasite clearance rates. In Plasmodium berghei-NMRI mouse infections, we estimated a maximum parasite clearance rate of 0.2 (1/h); in Plasmodium falciparum-SCID mouse infections, 0.05 (1/h); and in human volunteer infection studies with P. falciparum, we found a maximum parasite clearance rate of 0.12 (1/h) and 0.18 (1/h) after treatment with OZ439 and MMV048, respectively. Sensitivity analysis revealed that host-parasite driven processes account for up to 25% of variance in parasite clearance for medium-high doses of antimalarials. Although there are limitations in translating parasite clearance rates across these experiments, they provide insight into characterizing key parameters of drug action and dose response and assist in decision-making regarding dosage for further drug development.

Insights from modelling malaria vaccines for policy decisions: the focus on RTS,S.

Mathematical models are increasingly used to inform decisions throughout product development pathways from pre-clinical studies to country implementation of novel health interventions. This review illustrates the utility of simulation approaches by reviewing the literature on malaria vaccine modelling, with a focus on its link to the development of policy guidance for the first licensed product, RTS,S/AS01. The main contributions of modelling studies have been in inferring the mechanism of action and efficacy profile of RTS,S; to predicting the public health impact; and economic modelling mainly comprising cost-effectiveness analysis. The value of both product-specific and generic modelling of vaccines is highlighted.

Mechanistic within-host models of the asexual Plasmodium falciparum infection: a review and analytical assessment.

BACKGROUND: Malaria blood-stage infection length and intensity are important drivers of disease and transmission; however, the underlying mechanisms of parasite growth and the host's immune response during infection remain largely unknown. Over the last 30 years, several mechanistic mathematical models of malaria parasite within-host dynamics have been published and used in malaria transmission models. METHODS: Mechanistic within-host models of parasite dynamics were identified through a review of published literature. For a subset of these, model code was reproduced and descriptive statistics compared between the models using fitted data. Through simulation and model analysis, key features of the models were compared, including assumptions on growth, immune response components, variant switching mechanisms, and inter-individual variability. RESULTS: The assessed within-host malaria models generally replicate infection dynamics in malaria-naïve individuals. However, there are substantial differences between the model dynamics after disease onset, and models do not always reproduce late infection parasitaemia data used for calibration of the within host infections. Models have attempted to capture the considerable variability in parasite dynamics between individuals by including stochastic parasite multiplication rates; variant switching dynamics leading to immune escape; variable effects of the host immune responses; or via probabilistic events. For models that capture realistic length of infections, model representations of innate immunity explain early peaks in infection density that cause clinical symptoms, and model representations of antibody immune responses control the length of infection. Models differed in their assumptions concerning variant switching dynamics, reflecting uncertainty in the underlying mechanisms of variant switching revealed by recent clinical data during early infection. Overall, given the scarce availability of the biological evidence there is limited support for complex models. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that much of the inter-individual variability observed in clinical malaria infections has traditionally been attributed in models to random variability, rather than mechanistic disease dynamics. Thus, it is proposed that newly developed models should assume simple immune dynamics that minimally capture mechanistic understandings and avoid over-parameterization and large stochasticity which inaccurately represent unknown disease mechanisms.

Effect of ageing on antiretroviral drug pharmacokinetics using clinical data combined with modelling and simulation.

AIMS: The impact of ageing on antiretroviral pharmacokinetics remains uncertain, leading to missing dosing recommendations for elderly people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV: PLWH). The objective of this study was to investigate whether ageing leads to clinically relevant pharmacokinetic changes of antiretrovirals that would support a dose adjustment based on the age of the treated PLWH. METHODS: Plasma concentrations for 10 first-line antiretrovirals were obtained in PLWH ≥55 years, participating in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study, and used to proof the predictive performance of our physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. The verified PBPK model predicted the continuous effect of ageing on HIV drug pharmacokinetics across adulthood (20-99 years). The impact of ethnicity on age-related pharmacokinetic changes between whites and other races was statistically analysed. RESULTS: Clinically observed concentration-time profiles of all investigated antiretrovirals were generally within the 95% confidence interval of the PBPK simulations, demonstrating the predictive power of the modelling approach used. The predicted decline in drug clearance drove age-related pharmacokinetic changes of antiretrovirals, resulting in a maximal 70% [95% confidence interval: 40%, 120%] increase in antiretrovirals exposure across adulthood. Peak concentration, time to peak concentration and apparent volume of distribution were predicted to be unaltered by ageing. There was no statistically significant difference of age-related pharmacokinetic changes between studied ethnicities. CONCLUSION: Dose adjustment for antiretrovirals based on the age of male and female PLWH is a priori not necessary in the absence of severe comorbidities considering the large safety margin of the current first-line HIV treatments.

From Plasmodium vivax outbreak to elimination: lessons learnt from a retrospective analysis of data from Guantang.

BACKGROUND: Malaria was once a serious public health problem in China, with Plasmodium vivax the major species responsible for more than 90% of local transmission. Following significant integrated malaria control and elimination programmes, malaria burden declined, and since 2017 China has not recorded any indigenous case. To understand the historical malaria transmission patterns and epidemic characteristics in China and insights useful to guide P. vivax malaria control and elimination elsewhere, a retrospective study was carried out. METHODS: Historical data from a pilot study conducted in Guantang, Luyi in central China from 1971-1995, were digitized. The data included monthly numbers of reported cases, febrile cases, parasite carriage rates, the neonatal infection rate, and entomological data regarding Anopheles sinensis. RESULTS: Following 25 years of continuous integrated malaria control activities, malaria incidence in Guantang decreased from 4,333 cases per 10,000 in 1970 before integrated implementation to 0.23 cases per 10,000 in 1991, and no cases in 1992-1995. Some fluctuations in incidence were observed between 1977 and 1981. During the period parasite rates, antibody levels and the neonatal infection rate also decreased. The pattern of seasonality confirmed that P. vivax in Henan Province was primarily of the long incubation type (temperate) during non-transmission period. The findings retrospectively provide a scientific basis for the implementation of mass campaigns of liver stage hypnozoite clearance. Entomological studies indicated that An. sinensis was the only vector, and it preferred bovine to human hosts, predominantly biting and resting outdoors. Mosquito densities declined between 1971 and 1984. CONCLUSION: The integrated malaria control approach in Guantang effectively controlled malaria and achieved elimination. Analysis of the effectiveness of the programme can provide guidance to other regions or countries with similar ecological settings aiming to move from malaria control to elimination. There is a potential challenge in the maintenance of non-transmission status owing to imported cases and the long dormancy of liver stage hypnozoites.

Costing malaria interventions from pilots to elimination programmes.

BACKGROUND: Malaria programmes in countries with low transmission levels require evidence to optimize deployment of current and new tools to reach elimination with limited resources. Recent pilots of elimination strategies in Ethiopia, Senegal, and Zambia produced evidence of their epidemiological impacts and costs. There is a need to generalize these findings to different epidemiological and health systems contexts. METHODS: Drawing on experience of implementing partners, operational documents and costing studies from these pilots, reference scenarios were defined for rapid reporting (RR), reactive case detection (RACD), mass drug administration (MDA), and in-door residual spraying (IRS). These generalized interventions from their trial implementation to one typical of programmatic delivery. In doing so, resource use due to interventions was isolated from research activities and was related to the pilot setting. Costing models developed around this reference implementation, standardized the scope of resources costed, the valuation of resource use, and the setting in which interventions were evaluated. Sensitivity analyses were used to inform generalizability of the estimates and model assumptions. RESULTS: Populated with local prices and resource use from the pilots, the models yielded an average annual economic cost per capita of $0.18 for RR, $0.75 for RACD, $4.28 for MDA (two rounds), and $1.79 for IRS (one round, 50% households). Intervention design and resource use at service delivery were key drivers of variation in costs of RR, MDA, and RACD. Scale was the most important parameter for IRS. Overall price level was a minor contributor, except for MDA where drugs accounted for 70% of the cost. The analyses showed that at implementation scales comparable to health facility catchment area, systematic correlations between model inputs characterizing implementation and setting produce large gradients in costs. CONCLUSIONS: Prospective costing models are powerful tools to explore resource and cost implications of policy alternatives. By formalizing translation of operational data into an estimate of intervention cost, these models provide the methodological infrastructure to strengthen capacity gap for economic evaluation in endemic countries. The value of this approach for decision-making is enhanced when primary cost data collection is designed to enable analysis of the efficiency of operational inputs in relation to features of the trial or the setting, thus facilitating transferability.

Pooled Population Pharmacokinetic Analysis of Tribendimidine for the Treatment of Opisthorchis viverrini Infections.

Opisthorchiasis, caused by the foodborne trematode Opisthorchis viverrini, affects more than 8 million people in Southeast Asia. In the framework of a phase 2b clinical trial conducted in Lao People's Democratic Republic, pharmacokinetic samples were obtained from 125 adult and adolescent O. viverrini-infected patients treated with 400 mg tribendimidine following the design of a sparse sampling scheme at 20 min and 2, 7.75, 8, and 30 h after treatment using dried blood spot sampling. Pharmacokinetic data for the metabolites deacetylated amidantel (dADT) and acetylated dADT (adADT) were pooled with data from two previous ascending-dose trials and evaluated using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling. The observed pharmacokinetic data were described using a flexible transit absorption model for the active metabolite dADT, followed by one-compartment disposition models for both metabolites. Significant covariates were age, body weight, formulation, and breaking of the enteric coating on the tablets. There were significant associations between O. viverrini cure and both the dADT maximum concentration and the area under the concentration-time curve (P < 0.001), with younger age being associated with a higher probability of cure. Modeling and simulation of exposures in patients with different weight and age combinations showed that an oral single dose of 400 mg tribendimidine attained therapeutic success in over 90% of adult patients. Our data confirmed that tribendimidine could be a valuable novel alternative to the standard treatment, praziquantel, for the treatment of O. viverrini infections.

Identifying key factors of the transmission dynamics of drug-resistant malaria.

Development of resistance to malaria treatments remains a great threat to continued malaria burden reduction and elimination. Quantifying the impact of key factors which increase the emergence and spread of drug resistance can guide intervention strategies. Whilst modelling provides a framework to understand these factors, we show that a simple of model with a sensitive-resistant dichotomy leads to incorrectly focusing on reducing the treatment rate as a means to prevent resistance. Instead we present a model that considers the development of resistance within hosts as a scale, and we then quantify the number of resistant infections that would arise from a single sensitive infection. By including just one step before full resistance, the model highlights that disrupting this development is more effective than reducing treatment rate. This result is compounded when the model includes the more realistic scenario of several intermediary steps. An additional comparison to transmission probabilities, where resistant infections are less likely to be transmitted (cost of resistance), confirms that preventing the establishment of resistance is more effective than controlling the spread. Our work strongly advocates for further studies into within-host models of resistance, including the potential of combination therapies to disrupt emergence.

Resurgence of malaria infection after mass treatment: a simulation study.

BACKGROUND: Field studies are evaluating if mass drug administration (MDA) might shorten the time to elimination of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, when vector control measures and reactive surveillance strategies are scaled-up. A concern with this strategy is that there may be resurgence of transmission following MDA. METHODS: A conceptual model was developed to classify possible outcomes of an initial period of MDA, followed by continuously implementing other interventions. The classification considered whether elimination or a new endemic stable state is achieved, and whether changes are rapid, transient, or gradual. These categories were informed by stability analyses of simple models of vector control, case management, and test-and-treat interventions. Individual-based stochastic models of malaria transmission (OpenMalaria) were then used to estimate the probability and likely rates of resurgence in realistic settings. Effects of concurrent interventions, including routine case management and test-and-treat strategies were investigated. RESULTS: Analysis of the conceptual models suggest resurgence will occur after MDA unless transmission potential is very low, or the post-MDA prevalence falls below a threshold, which depends on both transmission potential and on the induction of bistability. Importation rates are important only when this threshold is very low. In most OpenMalaria simulations the approximately stable state achieved at the end of the simulations was independent of inclusion of MDA and the final state was unaffected by importation of infections at plausible rates. Elimination occurred only with high effective coverage of case management, low initial prevalence, and high intensity test-and-treat. High coverage of case management but not by test-and-treat induced bistability. Where resurgence occurred, its rate depended mainly on transmission potential (not treatment rates). CONCLUSIONS: A short burst of high impact MDA is likely to be followed by resurgence. To avert resurgence, concomitant interventions need either to substantially reduce average transmission potential or to be differentially effective in averting or clearing infections at low prevalence. Case management at high effective coverage has this differential effect, and should suffice to avert resurgence caused by imported cases at plausible rates of importation. Once resurgence occurs, its rate depends mainly on transmission potential, not on treatment strategies.

Mass campaigns combining antimalarial drugs and anti-infective vaccines as seasonal interventions for malaria control, elimination and prevention of resurgence: a modelling study.

BACKGROUND: The only licensed malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01, has been developed for morbidity-control in young children. The potential impact on transmission of deploying such anti-infective vaccines to wider age ranges, possibly with co-administration of antimalarial treatment, is unknown. Combinations of existing malaria interventions is becoming increasingly important as evidence mounts that progress on reducing malaria incidence is stalling and threatened by resistance. METHODS: Malaria transmission and intervention dynamics were simulated using OpenMalaria, an individual-based simulation model of malaria transmission, by considering a seasonal transmission setting and by varying epidemiological and setting parameters such as transmission intensity, case management, intervention types and intervention coverages. Chemopreventive drugs and anti-infective vaccine efficacy profiles were based on previous studies in which model parameters were fitted to clinical trial data. These intervention properties were used to evaluate the potential of seasonal mass applications of preventative anti-infective malaria vaccines, alone or in combination with chemoprevention, to reduce malaria transmission, prevent resurgence, and/or reach transmission interruption. RESULTS: Deploying a vaccine to all ages on its own is a less effective intervention strategy compared to chemoprevention alone. However, vaccines combined with drugs are likely to achieve dramatic prevalence reductions and in few settings, transmission interruption. The combined mass intervention will result in lower prevalence following the intervention compared to chemoprevention alone and will increase chances of interruption of transmission resulting from a synergistic effect between both interventions. The combination of vaccine and drug increases the time before transmission resurges after mass interventions cease compared to mass treatment alone. Deploying vaccines and drugs together requires fewer rounds of mass intervention and fewer years of intervention to achieve the same public health impact as chemoprevention alone. CONCLUSIONS: Through simulations we identified a previously unidentified value of deploying vaccines with drugs, namely the greatest benefit will be in preventing and delaying transmission resurgence for longer periods than with other human targeted interventions. This is suggesting a potential role for deploying vaccines alongside drugs in transmission foci as part of surveillance-response strategies.

Population Pharmacokinetics of the Antimalarial Amodiaquine: a Pooled Analysis To Optimize Dosing.

Amodiaquine plus artesunate is the recommended antimalarial treatment in many countries where malaria is endemic. However, pediatric doses are largely based on a linear extrapolation from adult doses. We pooled data from previously published studies on the pharmacokinetics of amodiaquine, to optimize the dose across all age groups. Adults and children with uncomplicated malaria received daily weight-based doses of amodiaquine or artesunate-amodiaquine over 3 days. Plasma concentration-time profiles for both the parent drug and the metabolite were characterized using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling. Amodiaquine pharmacokinetics were adequately described by a two-compartment disposition model, with first-order elimination leading to the formation of desethylamodiaquine, which was best described by a three-compartment disposition model. Body size and age were the main covariates affecting amodiaquine clearance. After adjusting for the effect of weight, clearance rates for amodiaquine and desethylamodiaquine reached 50% of adult maturation at 2.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5 to 3.7 months) and 3.9 months (95% CI, 2.6 to 5.3 months) after birth, assuming that the baby was born at term. Bioavailability was 22.4% (95% CI, 15.6 to 31.9%) lower at the start of treatment than during convalescence, which suggests a malaria disease effect. Neither the drug formulation nor the hemoglobin concentration had an effect on any pharmacokinetic parameters. Results from simulations showed that current manufacturer dosing recommendations resulted in low desethylamodiaquine exposure in patients weighing 8 kg, 15 to 17 kg, 33 to 35 kg, and >62 kg compared to that in a typical 50-kg patient. We propose possible optimized dosing regimens to achieve similar drug exposures among all age groups, which require further validation.

Mathematical analysis to prioritise strategies for malaria elimination.

Malaria and some other tropical diseases are currently targeted for elimination and eventually eradication. Since resources are limited, prioritisation of countries or areas for elimination is often necessary. However, this prioritisation is frequently conducted in an ad hoc manner. Lower transmission areas are usually targeted for elimination first, but for some areas this necessitates long and potentially expensive surveillance programs while transmission is eliminated from neighbouring higher transmission areas. We use a mathematical model to compare the implications of prioritisation choices in reducing overall burden and costs. We show that when the duration of the elimination program is independent of the transmission potential, burden is always reduced most by targeting high transmission areas first, but to reduce costs the optimal ordering depends on the actual transmission levels. In general, when overall transmission potential is low and the surveillance cost per secondary case compared to the cost per imported case is low, targeting the higher transmission area for elimination first is favoured.

Public health impact and cost-effectiveness of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine: a systematic comparison of predictions from four mathematical models.

BACKGROUND: The phase 3 trial of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine candidate showed modest efficacy of the vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum malaria, but was not powered to assess mortality endpoints. Impact projections and cost-effectiveness estimates for longer timeframes than the trial follow-up and across a range of settings are needed to inform policy recommendations. We aimed to assess the public health impact and cost-effectiveness of routine use of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine in African settings. METHODS: We compared four malaria transmission models and their predictions to assess vaccine cost-effectiveness and impact. We used trial data for follow-up of 32 months or longer to parameterise vaccine protection in the group aged 5-17 months. Estimates of cases, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted were calculated over a 15 year time horizon for a range of levels of Plasmodium falciparum parasite prevalence in 2-10 year olds (PfPR2-10; range 3-65%). We considered two vaccine schedules: three doses at ages 6, 7·5, and 9 months (three-dose schedule, 90% coverage) and including a fourth dose at age 27 months (four-dose schedule, 72% coverage). We estimated cost-effectiveness in the presence of existing malaria interventions for vaccine prices of US$2-10 per dose. FINDINGS: In regions with a PfPR2-10 of 10-65%, RTS,S/AS01 is predicted to avert a median of 93,940 (range 20,490-126,540) clinical cases and 394 (127-708) deaths for the three-dose schedule, or 116,480 (31,450-160,410) clinical cases and 484 (189-859) deaths for the four-dose schedule, per 100,000 fully vaccinated children. A positive impact is also predicted at a PfPR2-10 of 5-10%, but there is little impact at a prevalence of lower than 3%. At $5 per dose and a PfPR2-10 of 10-65%, we estimated a median incremental cost-effectiveness ratio compared with current interventions of $30 (range 18-211) per clinical case averted and $80 (44-279) per DALY averted for the three-dose schedule, and of $25 (16-222) and $87 (48-244), respectively, for the four-dose schedule. Higher ICERs were estimated at low PfPR2-10 levels. INTERPRETATION: We predict a significant public health impact and high cost-effectiveness of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine across a wide range of settings. Decisions about implementation will need to consider levels of malaria burden, the cost-effectiveness and coverage of other malaria interventions, health priorities, financing, and the capacity of the health system to deliver the vaccine. FUNDING: PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Global Good Fund; Medical Research Council; UK Department for International Development; GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; WHO.

State of inequality in malaria intervention coverage in sub-Saharan African countries.

BACKGROUND: Scale-up of malaria interventions over the last decade have yielded a significant reduction in malaria transmission and disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa. We estimated economic gradients in the distribution of these efforts and of their impacts within and across endemic countries. METHODS: Using Demographic and Health Surveys we computed equity metrics to characterize the distribution of malaria interventions in 30 endemic countries proxying economic position with an asset-wealth index. Gradients were summarized in a concentration index, tabulated against level of coverage, and compared among interventions, across countries, and against respective trends over the period 2005-2015. RESULTS: There remain broad differences in coverage of malaria interventions and their distribution by wealth within and across countries. In most, economic gradients are lacking or favor the poorest for vector control; malaria services delivered through the formal healthcare sector are much less equitable. Scale-up of interventions in many countries improved access across the wealth continuum; in some, these efforts consistently prioritized the poorest. Expansions in control programs generally narrowed coverage gaps between economic strata; gradients persist in countries where growth was slower in the poorest quintile or where baseline inequality was large. Despite progress, malaria is consistently concentrated in the poorest, with the degree of inequality in burden far surpassing that expected given gradients in the distribution of interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Economic gradients in the distribution of interventions persist over time, limiting progress toward equity in malaria control. We found that, in countries with large baseline inequality in the distribution of interventions, even a small bias in expansion favoring the least poor yielded large gradients in intervention coverage while pro-poor growth failed to close the gap between the poorest and least poor. We demonstrated that dimensions of disadvantage compound for the poor; a lack of economic gradients in the distribution of malaria services does not translate to equity in coverage nor can it be interpreted to imply equity in distribution of risk or disease burden. Our analysis testifies to the progress made by countries in narrowing economic gradients in malaria interventions and highlights the scope for continued monitoring of programs with respect to equity.

Incidence and admission rates for severe malaria and their impact on mortality in Africa.

BACKGROUND: Appropriate treatment of life-threatening Plasmodium falciparum malaria requires in-patient care. Although the proportion of severe cases accessing in-patient care in endemic settings strongly affects overall case fatality rates and thus disease burden, this proportion is generally unknown. At present, estimates of malaria mortality are driven by prevalence or overall clinical incidence data, ignoring differences in case fatality resulting from variations in access. Consequently, the overall impact of preventive interventions on disease burden have not been validly compared with those of improvements in access to case management or its quality. METHODS: Using a simulation-based approach, severe malaria admission rates and the subsequent severe malaria disease and mortality rates for 41 malaria endemic countries of sub-Saharan Africa were estimated. Country differences in transmission and health care settings were captured by use of high spatial resolution data on demographics and falciparum malaria prevalence, as well as national level estimates of effective coverage of treatment for uncomplicated malaria. Reported and modelled estimates of cases, admissions and malaria deaths from the World Malaria Report, along with predicted burden from simulations, were combined to provide revised estimates of access to in-patient care and case fatality rates. RESULTS: There is substantial variation between countries' in-patient admission rates and estimated levels of case fatality rates. It was found that for many African countries, most patients admitted for in-patient treatment would not meet strict criteria for severe disease and that for some countries only a small proportion of the total severe cases are admitted. Estimates are highly sensitive to the assumed community case fatality rates. Re-estimation of national level malaria mortality rates suggests that there is substantial burden attributable to inefficient in-patient access and treatment of severe disease. CONCLUSIONS: The model-based methods proposed here offer a standardized approach to estimate the numbers of severe malaria cases and deaths based on national level reporting, allowing for coverage of both curative and preventive interventions. This makes possible direct comparisons of the potential benefits of scaling-up either category of interventions. The profound uncertainties around these estimates highlight the need for better data.

Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Tribendimidine Metabolites in Opisthorchis viverrini-Infected Adults.

There is a pressing need for alternative treatments against the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini Oral tribendimidine is a promising candidate, but its population pharmacokinetic properties are unknown. Two phase IIa trials were conducted in Laos in O. viverrini-infected adults receiving single oral doses of 25 to 600 mg tribendimidine administered as different formulations in each study (study 1 used 200-mg tablets, and study 2 used 50-mg tablets). Venous whole blood, plasma, and capillary dried blood spots were sampled frequently from 68 adults, and concentrations of the tribendimidine metabolites dADT (deacetylated amidantel) and adADT (acetylated dADT) were measured. Population pharmacokinetics were assessed by using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling. The relationship between drug exposure and cure (assessed at 21 days posttreatment) was evaluated by using univariable logistic regression. A six-transit compartment absorption model with a one-disposition compartment for each metabolite described the data well. Compared to the 50-mg formulation (study 2), the 200-mg formulation (study 1) had a 40.1% higher mean transit absorption time, a 113% higher dADT volume of distribution, and a 364% higher adADT volume of distribution. Each 10-year increase in age was associated with a 12.7% lower dADT clearance and a 21.2% lower adADT clearance. The highest cure rates (≥55%) were observed with doses of ≥100 mg. Higher dADT, but not adADT, peak concentrations and exposures were associated with cure (P = 0.004 and 0.003, respectively). For the first time, population pharmacokinetics of tribendimidine have been described. Known differences in the 200-mg versus 50-mg formulations were captured by covariate modeling. Further studies are needed to validate the structural model and confirm covariate relationships. (This study has been registered with the ISRCTN Registry under no. ISRCTN96948551.).