COARTEM (Artemether 80MG/Lumefantrine 480MG) ANTIMALARIAL – 6 TABS

Description

Uses and Administration

Artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Artemisia annua, a herb that has traditionally been used in China for the treatment of malaria. It is a potent and rapidly acting blood schizontocide active against Plasmodium vivax and against both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of P. falciparum.

Artemisinin has been given orally or rectally in the treatment of malaria; regimens were often empirical with typical oral doses ranging from 10 to 25 mg/kg daily over a variable number of days.? However, it has largely been replaced in practice by its derivatives artemether and artesunate.

The following doses are recommended by WHO for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

Artesunate, when used with other antimalarials (amodiaquine, mefloquine, or pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine), is given orally to adults and children in a dose of 4 mg/kg daily, as a single dose, for 3 days.

Artemether is given orally with lumefantrine; 6 doses in total are given, the first at diagnosis and repeated after 8, 24, 36, 48, and 60 hours. Each dose is:

• adults and children weighing over 34¬†kg, artemether 80¬†mg with lumefantrine 480¬†mg
• children 5 to 14¬†kg, artemether 20¬†mg with lumefantrine 120¬†mg
• children 15 to 24¬†kg, artemether 40¬†mg with lumefantrine 240¬†mg
• children 25 to 34¬†kg, artemether 60¬†mg with lumefantrine 360¬†mg

For parenteral use in severe malaria, WHO recommends:

for adults or children, artesunate 2.4 mg/kg intravenously or intramuscularly, repeated after 12 and 24 hours and then once daily thereafter

as an alternative in children, artemether 3.2 mg/kg intramuscularly, followed by 1.6 mg/kg daily thereafter. For both drugs the patient should be transferred to oral therapy as soon as possible