Chlorproguanil is an

antimalarial drug Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young c ...

. In the late 90s and early 2000s, it was studied under collaboration with the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank Special Program for Research and Training on Tropical Diseases and GlaxoSmithKline. It was a potential alternative to the preexisting

combination therapy In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are ...

chloroquine Chloroquine is an antiparasitic medication that treats malaria. It works by increasing the levels of heme in the blood, a substance toxic to the malarial parasite. This kills the parasite and stops the infection from spreading. Certain types ...

and

sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Fansidar, is a combination medication used to treat malaria. It contains sulfadoxine (a sulfonamide) and pyrimethamine (an antiprotozoal). For the treatment of malaria it is typically used al ...

, as malaria was showing

drug resistance Drug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a medication such as an antimicrobial or an antineoplastic in treating a disease or condition. The term is used in the context of resistance that pathogens or cancers have "acquired", that is ...

to this approach. It has been trialled in combination therapy with

artesunate Artesunate (AS) is a medication used to treat malaria. The intravenous form is preferred to quinine for severe malaria. Often it is used as part of combination therapy, such as artesunate plus mefloquine. It is not used for the prevention of ...

to treat

haemolysis Hemolysis or haemolysis (), also known by several other names, is the rupturing (lysis) of red blood cells (erythrocytes) and the release of their contents (cytoplasm) into surrounding fluid (e.g. blood plasma). Hemolysis may occur in vivo ...

after malaria treatment, however its development was prematurely stopped because of safety concerns secondary to its associated risk of

haemolytic anaemia Hemolytic anemia or haemolytic anaemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells (RBCs), either in the blood vessels (intravascular hemolysis) or elsewhere in the human body (extravascular). This most commonl ...

in individuals with

glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PDD), also known as favism, is the most common enzyme deficiency anemia worldwide. It is an inborn error of metabolism that predisposes to red blood cell breakdown. Most of the time, those who ar ...

References

See also