A Multi-centre, Randomised, Double-blind, Double Dummy Study Comparing the Efficacy and Safety of Chlorproguanil-dapsone-artesunate Versus Artemether-lumefantrine in the Treatment of Acute Uncomplicated Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria in Children and Adolescents in Africa.

Chlorproguanil-dapsone has been approved for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a number of countries across sub-Sahara Africa, and by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. CDA is a combination of chlorproguanil, dapsone and artesunate, being developed in a public-private partnership with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), World Health Organisation (WHO-TDR) and academic partners from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine as a treatment for acute uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. The combination of chlorproguanil-dapsone-artesunate (CDA) is being developed to supersede chlorproguanil-dapsone for the same indication, but the addition of an artemisinin derivative, artesunate, should provide additional population benefits over chlorproguanil-dapsone alone. The artemisinins have been demonstrated to rapidly reduce parasite load and have activity against the sexual stages of the P.falciparum lifecycle. The addition of a second agent to the chlorproguanil-dapsone combination should also protect against the selection of resistant strains of P.falciparum. Artemether-lumefantrine is the only available fixed-dose Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy actually available and is considered as the gold standard for the treatment of P. falciparum malaria. This study will therefore aim to demonstrate the non-inferiority of the combination of CDA to artemether-lumefantrine in terms of efficacy at 28-days. The key secondary objectives will compare the Parasite Clearance Times (PCT) and the Fever Clearance Times (FCT) between CDA and artemether-lumefantrine.