Tafenoquine — A Radical Improvement?

Plasmodium vivax is a major cause of malaria in the Americas, the Horn of Africa, and Asia. P. vivax malaria has a propensity to recur (relapse), often multiple times, after resolution of the initial illness. This may cause substantial medical complications and contribute to death.1 Relapses arise from the dormant parasite stage in the liver (the hypnozoite). The only available drug that clears hypnozoites, thereby providing “radical cure,” is the 8-aminoquinoline primaquine. In this issue of the Journal, two studies report on the radical curative efficacy of tafenoquine, a newly registered, slowly eliminated, single-dose 8-aminoquinoline.2,3 It’s been a long time . . .