Triple artemisinin-based combination therapy (TACT): Efficacy of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus chloroquine against Plasmodium berghei ANKA strains with different drug sensitivities in a murine malaria model.

Background: Evident detection of artemisinin resistance markers in patient isolates of Plasmodium falciparum from East Africa threatens the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) as first-line treatment of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Repositioning previously used antimalarials as complementary addition to ACTs has been suggested as a viable option to mitigating this threat. This study evaluated the potential benefit of chloroquine (CQ) as a complementary partner to dihydroartemisinin/piperaquine (DHA/PQ) in the treatment of malaria in a mice model.