R evista da S ociedade B rasileira de M ed icin a T ropical 2 2 ( 3 ) : 1 6 3 , J u l- S e t , 1 9 8 9
R E S E N H A B IBL IO G R Á FIC A
H A L O F A N T R IN E IN TH E T R E A T M E N T O F M U L T ID R U G R E SIS T A N T M A L A R IA . Edited by
D C Warhurst and CJ Schofield. Elsevier publications, Cambridge, 1989.
Published as a supplement to Parasitology Today this valuable monograph summarises current
in fo r m a tio n o n a new antimalarial effective against
drug resistant falciparum malaria. Preclinical studies and the human pharmacokinetics of the drug are reviewed by B.G. Shuster and C.J. Canfield and C. Broom respectively. The drug is one of a series of phenanthrene methanols developed by the United
States Army antimalarial drug development program which since 1963 has screened over 300,000 com pounds. Then follow a series of clinical trials in Thai soldiers, adults in the Solomon Islands, 74 patients in Pakistan, adults and children in Kenya, children and adults in Malawi and Gabonese children. All studies show the drug to be highly effective in drug resistant falciparum malaria. The preferred schedule is three six hourly oral doses of 8mg-10mg/kg body weight. Side effects are minimal. It is also effective in other human malaria infections. The monograph closes with an overview of efficacy and safety by Horton and Parr, of Smith Kline and French, who manufacture the drug. Unfortunately there is no indication regarding cost. An appendix describes the Smith Kline and French pro tocol for testing Halofantrine. Evidently a trial of this7
schizonticide is urgently needed in Brazil.
Philip Davis Marsden
R ecebido p ara publicação em 18/08/89.
