Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas, Marcus V G Lacerda, Tran T Hien, Iván D Vélez, Chayadol Namaik-Larp, Cindy S Chu, Maria F Villegas, Fernando Val, Wuelton M Monteiro, Marcelo A M Brito, Mônica R F Costa, Raul Chuquiyauri, Martín Casapía, Chau H Nguyen, Sandra Aruachan, Ratchadaporn Papwijitsil, François H Nosten, Germana Bancone, Brian Angus, Stephan Duparc, Graham Craig, Victoria M Rousell, Siôn W Jones, Elizabeth Hardaker, Donna D Clover, Lindsay Kendall, Khadeeja Mohamed, Gavin C K W Koh, Viviana M Wilches, John J Breton, Justin A Green
BACKGROUND: Tafenoquine, a single-dose therapy for Plasmodium vivax malaria, has been associated with relapse prevention through the clearance of P. vivax parasitemia and hypnozoites, termed "radical cure." METHODS: We performed a phase 3, prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, randomized, controlled trial to compare tafenoquine with primaquine in terms of safety and efficacy. The trial was conducted at seven hospitals or clinics in Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam, and Thailand and involved patients with normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme activity and female patients with moderate G6PD enzyme deficiency; all patients had confirmed P...
January 17, 2019: New England Journal of Medicine