Uniting forces against drug-resistant malaria: MARC SE-Africa joins DeTACT's meeting in Zanzibar
On 6 and 7 May 2025, MARC SE-Africa's representative joined the final in-person meeting for the Development of Triple Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (DeTACT) project in Zanzibar, strengthening ties with research projects on future malaria treatment options for drug-resistant malaria.
At the meeting, DeTACT investigators shared results from the recently concluded 14-site trial in 8 African and 5 Asian countries, which studied the efficacy, safety and tolerability of two Triple Artemisinin Combination Therapy (TACT) combinations. DeTACT was led by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) and funded by UK Aid.
Group photo of the meeting participants.
Prof Arjen Dondorp from the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), a MARC SE-Africa partner and DeTACT Principal Investigator, started the meeting with an overview of Triple Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (TACTs). Subsequent presentations focused on dosing optimisation, pharmacokinetic modelling and market positioning for TACTs and genomics and transcriptomics of drug resistance. Finally, the project sites presented their individual results.
A presentation from the Cambodia study site.
The trial compared two existing combination therapies (artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine) against two TACTs that add one additional drug to each of these combinations (artemether-lumefantrine-amodiaquine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine-mefloquine, respectively). Results demonstrate the equivalence of these respective TACTs and ACTs regarding their safety and efficacy against falciparum malaria.
This important finding means that the addition of a third, safe and effective antimalarial gives the drug combination a far better chance against resistant plasmodium parasites.
Investigators also demonstrated that the earlier countries switched to TACTs, the better it was for all treatment outcomes. Mapping out next steps, they informed the participants that additional studies are planned to establish the pharmacokinetics of fixed-dose combinations, given that the trial studied loose drug combinations.
A cross section of meeting participants.
The meeting concluded with remarks from external partners, including the WHO, Malaria Medicines Venture, ministries of health officials and MARC-SE-Africa. The consortium was represented by Dr. Joanitah Atuhaire, a TDR fellow, who shared her insights regarding the work on antimalarial drug resistance in Uganda, where she coordinates the antimicrobial resistance task force at Uganda’s National Drug Authority. Reflecting on the presented results, she said: “Considering the current funding challenges in malaria programmes, results from this trial are an encouraging cost-saving development towards tackling antimalarial resistance.”
MARC SE-Africa partners believe collaboration in tackling antimalarial drug resistance is key, including data sharing on both resistance detection and response strategies such as triple ACTs. The consortium will continue to work closely with research initiatives that are active in this field to strengthen the efforts against this major threat to malaria control and management.
