SCOURGE OF MALARIA

Evening Star, Issue 19665, 19 September 1927, Page 4

SCOURGE OF MALARIA

DISCOVERY OF NEW DRUG GOOD RESULTS REPORTED. A secret new drug lias been discovered. Doctors are confident tViat it is an absolute cure for malaria, being far superior to quinine. It is being quietly distributed in mos-quito-stricken tropical areas throughout the world from Germany, which in September will send a large supply to Portuguese Bast Africa. The new -drug is called plasinochin, and is a compound discovered in 1925, when the German Dye' Trust, seeking a synthetic drug- allied to quinine, but without its after-effects, produced plasinochin from the quinine molecule. Early trials were first made upon hundreds of canaries infected with malaria,, and finally upon malaria patients. The. excellent results obtained convinced the experimenters throughout Europe,' and further work disclosed that better results were obtained by combining plasinochin with small doses of quinine. The German, inventors cling to the secret, for though they have published tho formula, one vital link in tho chain is missing. They have- not, however, otherwise limited the distribution of the drug, • The manufacturers, tested the drug before selected members of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. They will not place it on tho market until they have made certain of its.true action and potency against malaria.