Safety Study on the Effect of Eurartesim™ on QT/QTc Interval Compared to Riamet in Healthy Volunteers

The fight against malaria, which the WHO reactivated in 1999 with its Roll Back Malaria programme, emphasizes early curative treatment of malaria, particularly in children, in order to decrease mortality and morbidity. Recent estimates confirm a disturbing persistence of endemic malaria with around 515 million cases and 1.0 million deaths per year.The available range of standard antimalarial drugs is narrow. There are only four classes of compounds, probably with different mechanisms of action: 4-aminoquinolines, amino-alcohols, artemisinin derivatives (isolated from a plant, Artemisia annua), and antifolates and drugs related to them.

From a public health perspective, drug resistance is a critical factor that undermines malaria control.Plasmodium falciparum and resistance to chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine is widespread. At present, natural quinine is still effective against P. falciparum everywhere in the world except partially in South-east Asia and South America, where decreased susceptibility is reported. Only the artemisinin derivatives, used for 15 years in Asia and, more recently in Africa, have not generated clinical resistance. Overcoming or reducing resistance requires the adoption of several strategies; central to these is the use of effective chemotherapy for those who need it. In addition, to new molecules, we need to develop and implement strategies to protect drugs against resistance. Resistance to single-drug therapies will inevitably occur. Drug combinations, which have been standard practice for viral and bacterial diseases, are now being adopted for malaria as well. The artemisinin derivatives in combination with standard antimalarials are now being promoted as the best therapeutic option for treating drug-resistant malaria and retarding the development of resistance.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of this new Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT) formulation on electrocardiographic parameters. In the literature no relevant QT prolongation associated with Piperaquine treatment has been reported in not-company sponsored trials but no specific TQT trials have been published. On the contrary it has been reported that quinine, quinidine and halofantrine induced a QT prolongation (from slight to severe).

Inclusion criteria

• Male or female Caucasian subject ≥ 18 and ≤ 50 years;
• Good general health (by medical history and physical examination);
• For male and female subjects of childbearing potential use a double contraception method;
• For female subjects of childbearing potential only: negative plasma pregnancy test at Screening and at admission in the clinical unit;
• Body mass index (BMI) ≥18 and ≤ 27 kg/m2;
• No clinically relevant abnormalities in blood pressure and heart rate;
• No clinically relevant abnormalities in 12-lead ECG results;
• No clinically relevant abnormalities in results of laboratory tests;
• Registered with the French Social Security in agreement with the French law on biomedical experimentation.

Exclusion criteria

• A predictable poor compliance or inability to communicate well with the Investigator;
• Unsuitable veins for repeated venipuncture.
• Evidence of clinically relevant cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematological, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, metabolic-endocrine, neurological, urogenital or psychiatric diseases as judged by the Investigator;
• A history of additional risk factors for Torsades des Pointes (e.g., heart failure, hypokalemia, family history of Long QT Syndrome);
• The use of concomitant medications that prolong the QT/QTc interval;
• Any condition requiring regular concomitant medication, including herbal products and over-the-counter (OTC) medication or predicted need of any concomitant medication during the study;
• Evidence of any clinically significant acute or chronic disease, including known or suspected HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV infection;
• History of relevant clinical allergic reactions of any origin;
• Known hypersensitivity to any of the test materials or related compounds;
• Intake of any medication (except paracetamol, hormonal contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women), including OTC medications and herbal products that could affect the outcome of the study, within 2 weeks prior to the first drug administration or less than 5 times the t1/2 of that drug, whichever is the longer;
• Drug abuse;
• Current use of nicotine containing products and the inability to stop using nicotine containing products during confinement in the clinical centre.
• Use of caffeine containing beverages exceeding 500 mg caffeine/day and the inability to refrain from the use of caffeine containing beverages during confinement in the clinical centre;
• Intake of any food or any beverage containing grapefruit or grapefruit juice, orange or pomelo juice within 48 h prior to the first dosing and the inability to stop such intake during the study;
• Blood donation or loss of significant amount of blood within three months prior to the first dosing;
• Positive drug screen;
• Positive serology to HIV (HIV1 and HIV2) and/or HCV antibodies, and/or hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAG);
• Any other condition that in the opinion of the Investigator would interfere with the evaluation of the results or constitute a health risk for the subject;
• Participation in a drug study within 3 months prior to the first dosing.