First anti-malaria drug for newborns approved
Switzerland's medical products authority has granted the first approval for a malaria medicine designed for small infants, touted as an advance against a disease that takes hundreds of thousands of lives — nearly all in Africa — each year.
Swissmedic gave a green light Tuesday for the medicine from Basel-based pharmaceutical company Novartis for the treatment of babies with body weights between 2 and 5kg, which could pave the way for hard-hit African nations to follow suit in the coming months.
The agency said that the decision is significant in part because it's only the third time it has approved a treatment under a fast-track authorisation process, in coordination with the World Health Organization, to help developing countries access needed treatment.
The newly approved medication is a lower-dose version of a tablet previously approved for other age groups, including older children.
Dr. Quique Bassat, a malaria expert not affiliated with the Swiss review, said the burden of malaria in very young children is “relatively low” compared to older kids.
But access to such medicines is important to all, he said.
“There is no doubt that any child of whichever age — and particularly very, very young ones or very light-weighted ones — require a treatment,” said Bassat, the director general of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, known as ISGlobal.
Source: The Independent, 8 July 2025