New malaria drug shows promise in severe cases

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Cohort 1: Participants aged ≥ 12 years with moderately severe malaria as defined in (prostration and/or repeated vomiting) without presence of other signs of severe malaria (and with high P. falciparum parasitemia (60,000-250,000 parasites per µl) * Subsequent Cohorts 2 to 5: Participants diagnosed with severe malaria as defined in modified version of WHO criteria and P. falciparum parasite count of ≥ 5000 per µl * Cohort 2: Participants aged ≥ 12 years * Cohort 3: Participants aged 6 - \< 12 years * Cohort 4: Participants aged 2 - \< 6 years * Cohort 5: Participants aged ≥ 6 months - \< 2 years Exclusion Criteria: Exclusion criteria applying to all Cohorts 1 to 5: * Mixed Plasmodium infections * Treatment with quinine or artemisinin derivative or any other antimalarial drug or any antibiotic with known antimalarial activity within 12 hours of screening. * Signs/symptoms of severe malnutrition in general accordance with WHO guidelines: 1. Under 18 years: \<-3 Z-scores of WHO growth standard for weight-for-height/length (in children \< 5 years) or BMI for age (5-18 years), or very low mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC \< 115 mm in children \< 12 years, \< 160mm 12-18 years), or bilateral pitting edema 2. Over 18 years: BMI \< 16 kg/m2 or MUAC \< 160mm or bilateral pitting edema * Known underlying illness, surgical or medical condition, which is not related to ongoing event of severe malaria and which might jeopardize the participant's health in case of participation in the study or which might alter the distribution, metabolism or excretion of study treatment. For example: 1. neurological or neurodegenerative disorders, 2. cardiac, renal, or hepatic disease, diabetes, 3. epilepsy, cerebral palsy, 4. known or suspected to be HIV-1 positive and/or receiving antiretroviral treatment 5. malignancy of any organ system (other than localized basal cell carcinoma of the skin or in situ cervical cancer), treated or untreated, within the past 5 years, regardless of whether there is evidence of local recurrence or metastases 6. known or suspected cases of active infections or concurrent febrile illness such as TB, Typhoid, COVID-19 etc. Additional exclusion criteria are as follows: Exclusion criteria for Cohort 1: * ALT \> 5 x the upper limit of normal range (ULN), regardless the level of total bilirubin * Total bilirubin is \> 3 mg/dL * Body weight of \< 35 kg or \>75 kg Exclusion criteria for Cohort 2: * Body weight of \< 35 kg or \>75 kg * Participants diagnosed as moderately severe malaria due to repeated vomiting without presence of any of the symptoms of severe malaria Exclusion criteria for Cohorts 3 to 5: * Body weight of \< 5 kg * Participants diagnosed as moderately severe malaria due to repeated vomiting without presence of any of the symptoms of severe malaria