Formulation and evaluation of Pheroid vesicles containing mefloquine for the treatment of malaria.

Objectives: Mefloquine (MQ) is an antimalarial drug with high efficacy, often used in the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of malaria. However, it has low solubility in water, a long elimination half-life (4 days), and is neurotoxic, which leads to unwanted side effects.

Methods: We investigated a lipid-based drug delivery system, Pheroid vesicles, in combination with MQ (Pheroid MQ), to promote future clinical use.