Randomized, double-blind study of the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of tafenoquine versus mefloquine for malaria prophylaxis in nonimmune subjects

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2010 Feb;54(2):792-8. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00354-09. Epub 2009 Dec 7.

Abstract

This study represents the first phase III trial of the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of tafenoquine for malaria prophylaxis. In a randomized (3:1), double-blinded study, Australian soldiers received weekly malaria prophylaxis with 200 mg tafenoquine (492 subjects) or 250 mg mefloquine (162 subjects) for 6 months on a peacekeeping deployment to East Timor. After returning to Australia, tafenoquine-receiving subjects received a placebo and mefloquine-receiving subjects received 30 mg primaquine daily for 14 days. There were no clinically significant differences between hematological and biochemical parameters of the treatment groups. Treatment-related adverse events for the two groups were similar (tafenoquine, 13.4%; mefloquine, 11.7%). Three subjects on tafenoquine (0.6%) and none on mefloquine discontinued prophylaxis because of possible drug-related adverse events. No diagnoses of malaria occurred for either group during deployment, but 4 cases (0.9%) and 1 case (0.7%) of Plasmodium vivax infection occurred among the tafenoquine and mefloquine groups, respectively, up to 20 weeks after discontinuation of medication. In a subset of subjects recruited for detailed safety assessments, treatment-related mild vortex keratopathy was detected in 93% (69 of 74) of tafenoquine subjects but none of the 21 mefloquine subjects. The vortex keratopathy was not associated with any effect on visual acuity and was fully resolved in all subjects by 1 year. Tafenoquine appears to be safe and well tolerated as malaria prophylaxis. Although the volunteers' precise exposure to malaria could not be proven in this study, tafenoquine appears to be a highly efficacious drug for malaria prophylaxis.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial, Phase III
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aminoquinolines / adverse effects
  • Aminoquinolines / therapeutic use*
  • Antimalarials / adverse effects
  • Antimalarials / therapeutic use*
  • Australia
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Malaria / drug therapy*
  • Male
  • Mefloquine / adverse effects
  • Mefloquine / therapeutic use*
  • Middle Aged
  • Military Personnel
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Aminoquinolines
  • Antimalarials
  • tafenoquine
  • Mefloquine