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CompletedNCT05343312MEFI_IVUpdated Aug 27, 2025

In Vivo Efficacy of Artemether-Lumefantrine, Amodiaquine-Artesunate, Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine, and Pironaridine-Artesunate in Mozambique

A Phase 4 interventional study of AL (Coartem) and AS-AQ (Carsucam) in Malaria, sponsored by Centro de Investigacao em Saude de Manhica. Completed at 5 sites in Mozambique. Open to participants aged 6 Months to 59 Months. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-08-27.

Sponsored by Centro de Investigacao em Saude de Manhica · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
870
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
6 Months to 59 Months
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a classical in vivo clinical trial, following World Health organization's recommendations, ran as a multisite study within Mozambique trying to assess the efficacy and safety in 5 sites of the four oral ACTS artemether-lumefantrine (AL), Amodiaquine-Artesunate (AQ-AS), Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine (DHP) and Pironaridine-Artesunate for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in children aged\<5 years.

Read the detailed description

Eligible patients were consecutively assigned to the cohort and treated with AL (cohort 1), AQ-AS (cohort 2), DHP (cohort 3) and PA (cohort 4). AL (Coartem™) will be administered twice daily for three days (six doses in total) with dosage determined according to body weight: one tablet (20mg artemether and 120mg lumefantrine) for children 5 to \<15kg, two tablets per dose for those 15 to \<25kg, and three tablets per dose for those 25 to \<35kg. AQ-AS (Winthrop™) will be administered once daily according to body weight: one 25mg artesunate and 67.5mg amodiaquine tablet in children \<9kg, one 50mg artesunate and 135mg amodiaquine tablet in children 9-17.9kg; and one 100mg artesunate and 270mg amodiaquine tablet in children >18-35kg. DHP will be administered once daily according to body weight: half tablet (40mg dihydroartemisinin e 320 mg piperaquine) for children 5 to \< 10Kg, one tablet for per dose for those 10 \< 20Kg and 2 tablets for 20 or more Kg. PA (granules 60mg pirinaridine +/20mg artesunate) will administered once daily according to body weight: 1 granule per dose for children 5 to \< 8Kg, two for children 8 \< 15Kg, three for those 15 \< 20Kg. PA (180mg pyrinaridine+60 mg artesunate) one tablet for children 20 \< 24Kg and two tablets for those 24 \< 45Kg. All treatments will be directly observed for a minimum of 30 minutes. Vomiting occurring within the first 30 minutes implied the repetition of the full dose of treatment. For those patients living far away from the health facilities, and for which direct observation of the evening doses of AL was challenging, admission was offered for the first three days of the study.

02

Conditions studied

  • Malaria

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Keywords

  • Treatment
  • Artemisine-based combinations
  • children
03

In context

Malaria

1,184 studies on the registry are indexed under Malaria; 79 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 870 is above the median of 252 across 937 interventional studies indexed under Malaria.

Browse Malaria studies →

Lead sponsor

Centro de Investigacao em Saude de Manhica is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
6 Months to 59 Months
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Ages 6 to 59 months
  • Weight Greater than or equal to 5 kg
  • Absence of severe malnutrition;
  • Mono-infection with Plasmodium falciparum in blood, confirmed by microscopy;
  • Parasite density between 2,000 and 200,000 asexual parasites per microliter of blood;
  • Axillary temperature ≥ 37.5 C° or history of fever in the last 24 hours;
  • Lack of danger signs, or no signs of severe and / or complicated malaria according to the WHO definition
  • Ability to swallow the drugs
  • greater than 5.0 g / dl
  • Residents within the study area and have the possibility of an adequate follow-up in the days of monitoring for a period of 28 days;
  • Absence of a history of to study medications;
  • of parents, guardians or caregivers (legal guardian) after explaining the purpose of the study.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of any danger sign or severe or complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria according to WHO definitions
  • Presence of fever due to diseases other than malaria (eg measles, acute respiratory infection, severe diarrhea with dehydration) or other known diseases, with chronic or serious illnesses (cardiac, renal, hepatic or known infection with AIDS),
  • Presence of severe malnutrition (defined as a child whose growth pattern is below the 3rd percentile, mid-upper-arm circumference \<110mm, weight / height \<70% according to the WHO tables, or the presence of bilateral edema of the lower limbs)
  • Multi or mono-infection by another Plasmodium species detected by microscopy;
  • Regular medication that may interfere with the pharmacokinetics of antimalarials;
  • History of or to study drug;
  • A history of taking antimalarial drugs or drugs with antimalarial activity in less than 7 days.
  • Continuous prophylaxis with cotrimoxazole in HIV positive children
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
870 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL)

    AL (Coartem™) will be administered twice daily for three days (six doses in total) with dosage determined according to body weight: one tablet (20mg artemether and 120mg lumefantrine) for children 5 to \<15kg, two tablets per dose for those 15 to \<25kg, and three tablets per dose for those 25 to \<35kg.

    Drug: AL (Coartem)

  • Active comparator
    Amodiaquine-Artesunate (AS-AQ)

    AQ-AS (Coarsucam™) will be administered once daily according to body weight: one 25mg artesunate and 67.5mg amodiaquine tablet in children \<9kg, one 50mg artesunate and 135mg amodiaquine tablet in children 9-17.9kg; and one 100mg artesunate and 270mg amodiaquine tablet in children \>18-35kg.

    Drug: AS-AQ (Carsucam)

  • Active comparator
    Dihydroartimisin+Piperaquine (DHP)

    DHP will be administered once daily according to body weight: tablet (40 mg dihydroartimisin+artesunate) half in children 5 \< 10kg, one in children 10 \< 20kg and 2 tablets for those children over 20 kg.

    Drug: DHP

  • Active comparator
    Pyronaridine +Artesunate (PA)

    PA will be administered once daily according to body weight: granule ( 60 mg pyronaridine + 20 artesunate), one in children 5 \< 7kg, two in children 8 \< 15kg and three in children 15 \< 20kg. Tablets ( 180 mg pyronaridine+ 60 mg artesunate), one in children 20 \< 24Kg and two in children 24 \< 45Kg.

    Drug: PA

Interventions

  • DrugAL (Coartem)

    Eligible patients will be consecutively assigned to the four cohorts. Rescue therapy according to national malaria treatment guidelines will be also administered in cases of early or late treatment failure. Follow-up visits will take place on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14,21 and 28 after enrolment or at any time point whenever the child is sick. Adverse events will be recorded and assessed for severity and association with study medication. Thick and thin Giemsa-stained blood slides will be prepared before each dose to be administered and at every follow-up visit of days 2, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Blood samples for PCR analysis will be collected from every patient at baseline and at days 7, 14, 28, and 42 day of treatment failure or at any other unscheduled visit. The Molecular markers associated with suboptimal response to ACTs will be investigated.

  • DrugAS-AQ (Carsucam)

    Eligible patients will be consecutively assigned to the four cohorts. Rescue therapy according to national malaria treatment guidelines will be also administered in cases of early or late treatment failure. Follow-up visits will take place on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14,21, 28, 35 and 42 after enrolment or at any time point whenever the child is sick. Adverse events will be recorded and assessed for severity and association with study medication. Thick and thin Giemsa-stained blood slides will be prepared before each dose to be administered and at every follow-up visit of days 2, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Blood samples for PCR analysis will be collected from every patient at baseline and at days 7, 14, and 28 day of treatment failure or at any other unscheduled visit. The Molecular markers associated with suboptimal response to ACTs will be investigated.

  • DrugDHP

    Drug pages: Artenimol · Piperaquine

    Eligible patients will be consecutively assigned to the four cohorts. Rescue therapy according to national malaria treatment guidelines will be also administered in cases of early or late treatment failure. Follow-up visits will take place on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14,21, 28, 35 and 42 after enrolment or at any time point whenever the child is sick. Adverse events will be recorded and assessed for severity and association with study medication. Thick and thin Giemsa-stained blood slides will be prepared before each dose to be administered and at every follow-up visit of days 2, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Blood samples for PCR analysis will be collected from every patient at baseline and at days 7, 14, 28, and 42 day of treatment failure or at any other unscheduled visit. The Molecular markers associated with suboptimal response to ACTs will be investigated.

  • DrugPA

    Eligible patients will be consecutively assigned to the four cohorts. Rescue therapy according to national malaria treatment guidelines will be also administered in cases of early or late treatment failure. Follow-up visits will take place on days 1, 2, 3, 7, 14,21, 28, 35 and 42 after enrolment or at any time point whenever the child is sick. Adverse events will be recorded and assessed for severity and association with study medication. Thick and thin Giemsa-stained blood slides will be prepared before each dose to be administered and at every follow-up visit of days 2, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. Blood samples for PCR analysis will be collected from every patient at baseline and at days 7, 14, 28, and 42 day of treatment failure or at any other unscheduled visit. The Molecular markers associated with suboptimal response to ACTs will be investigated.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. To measure the Day 28, PCR corrected cure rates of artemether-lumefantrine and Amodiaquine-artesunate.

    This cure rate is defined as the proportion of patients with adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR) at Day 28, once PCR correction to differentiate recrudescences from new infections have been applied (and hence only considering as treatment failures those parasite recurrences confirmed as recrudescences).

    Time frame: 28 days

  2. To measure the Day 42, PCR corrected cure rates of Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine and Pironaridine-Artesunate

    This cure rate is defined as the proportion of patients with adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR) at Day 42, once PCR correction to differentiate recrudescences from new infections have been applied (and hence only considering as treatment failures those parasite recurrences confirmed as recrudescences).

    Time frame: 42 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. To evaluate the incidence of adverse events

    Safety was assessed by administering a questionnaire about the nature and incidence of adverse events and serious adverse events. An adverse event is defined as any unfavorable, unintended sign, symptom, syndrome or disease that develops or worsens with the use of a medicinal product, regardless of whether it is related to the medicinal product.

    Time frame: 28/42 days

  2. To measure the Day PCR uncorrected cure rates of Artemether-Lumefantrine, Amodiaquine-Artesunate, Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine, and Pironaridine-Artesunate.

    This cure rate is defined as the proportion of patients with adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPR) at Day 28/42, without PCR correction to differentiate recrudescences from new infections and hence considering as treatment failures all parasite recurrences.

    Time frame: 28/42 days

  3. Evaluate the presence of Molecular Markers associated with sub optimum responses to ACTs

    The presence of molecular marks is defined as presence of mutations in pfk13 and pfmdr1 (at codons 86, 184 and 1246) genes identified by Sanger sequencing of pre-treatment samples.

    Time frame: 28/42 days

07

Study locations

5 sites
  • Hospital Rural de Montepuez
    Montepuez, Cabo Delgado Province 1999, Mozambique
  • Hospital Distrital de Mssinga
    Massinga, Inhambane Province 1999, Mozambique
  • Hospital Distrital de Dondo
    Dondo, Sofala 1999, Mozambique
  • Mospital Distrital de Moatize
    Moatize, Tete 1999, Mozambique
  • Hospital Distrital de Mopeia
    Mopeia, Zambezia Province 1999, Mozambique
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Nhama A, Chidimatembue A, Nhamussua L, Bassat Q, da Silva C, Nhacolo A, Arnaldo P, Salvador C, Cassy A, Candrinho B, Dimene M, Carvalho E, Saifodine A, Wate F, Mucavele H, Torres-Mendoza Y, Horton B, Plucinski M, Cistero P, Mayor A, Aide P. Efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine, artesunate-amodiaquine, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine and artesunate-pyronaridine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Mozambique, 2022. Malar J. 2025 Jul 14;24(1):231. doi: 10.1186/s12936-025-05473-9. PubMed 40660279 ↗

Related links

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 27, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05343312
Lead sponsor
Centro de Investigacao em Saude de Manhica
Collaborators
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 25, 2022
Start date
Mar 16, 2022
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2023
Completion
Jul 30, 2025
Last update
Aug 27, 2025

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Artenimol · Piperaquine

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