Achieving adequate antimalarial drug concentrations in the blood is pivotal to curing malaria. The Pharmacology Module is working to accurately define antimalarial drug resistance, by differentiating true resistance from inadequate drug exposure. It also hopes to contribute to reducing resistance by informing optimal antimalarial dosing in key target populations.
Informing optimal antimalarial selection and dosing, requires the global cooperation of researchers active in antimalarial pharmacology to:
- Adequately define therapeutic drug concentrations.
- Facilitate a better understanding of the patient, dosing and disease factors that change antimalarial exposure enough to compromise the antimalarial efficacy.
What we do
The Pharmacology Module liaises with investigators involved in antimalarial pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic research to establish a global network of WWARN pharmacology partners.
The Pharmacology Module curates, summarises and collates individual patient data contributed to the WWARN Data Repository about antimalarial drug concentrations, primarily in patients treated for malaria. This data is displayed on the WWARN Explorer, a web-based visualisation tool that allows users to filter data by antimalarial drug, treatment response and study group. View pharmacology data in the WWARN Explorer preview.
The Pharmacology Module will also undertake analyses of pooled antimalarial pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data in order to provide the necessary evidence to inform recommendations on dosage and use in key target populations.
As an additional resource, we maintain a searchable database of published studies on antimalarial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to:
- Identify any data gaps in key target populations, by antimalarial.
- Summarise available information on summary metrics of antimalarial drug exposure by study group.
Collaborations
WWARN Pharmacology Working Group
We liaise with researchers involved in antimalarial pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic research to establish a global partnership of pharmacology experts. If you’re interested in participating in this group, please complete our short questionnaire. The questionnaire outlines your capacity to contribute antimalarial pharmacology data and helps us to determine which tools, services and assistance might be of value to you. For more information, please contact pharmacology@wwarn.org.
Methods for assessing exposure to antimalarial drugs in clinical field studies
An informal consultation, organized by WHO with technical support from WWARN, was held February 2010 with the aim of reaching consensus on methods for assessing exposure to antimalarial drugs in clinical field trials. Click here to download a report of the meeting. It can be used as a reference by investigators conducting clinical trials and by laboratories performing antimalarial drug assays as well as by national malaria control programmes, study sponsors and regulatory authorities responsible for evaluating antimalarial drugs.
The Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) programme
For laboratories conducting antimalarial drug assays, WWARN initiated a Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) programme with two major components:
- A proficiency testing programme sending blinded QC samples to participating laboratories.
- A reference material programme for the provision of small quantities of reference drug standards, reference metabolite standards, and appropriate internal standards to participating laboratories.
For additional information, please contact QAQC@wwarn.org.
Resources
An introduction to PK analysis and population modelling
The PK Module hosted a two-day workshop in Cape Town, South Africa October 2011. Participating research scientists were introduced to classical PK analysis and population modelling. Download presentations on non-compartmental (Kasia Stepniewska, WWARN) and compartmental (Julie Simpson, University of Melbourne) PK analysis, and an introduction to population pharmacometrics (Joel Tarning, MORU).
