The proliferation of poor quality medicines has been described as a global pandemic that threatens the lives of millions. Poor quality medicines can have a devastating affect on the lives of patients, resulting in prolonged sickness, treatment failure, side effects, loss of income, and death.

On Monday, 25 April a group of leading researchers marked World Malaria Day and their support for the global drive to ‘End Malaria for Good’.

Two new studies, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, announce the results from clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of antimalarial medicines, currently used in the wider population, on pregnant women.

The WWARN In Vitro team lead by Institut Pasteur, Cambodia, have designed a new piperaquine survival assay (PSA) that can now be used to capture the outcomes of antimalarial drug resistance to piperaquine in the laboratory.

WWARN has now joined forces with the Malaria in Pregnancy (MiP) Consortium to establish a malaria in pregnancy research programme within the WWARN data platform.

The WWARN Clinical & Molecular Scientific Groups have established a new study group to investigate the correlation between different K13 mutations and parasites that show a slow clearing clinical response in patients, the phenotype.

The ACT Consortium drug quality programme shares findings from their multi-country study that assessed the quality of over 10,000 artemisinin-based combinations, purchased in six malaria endemic countries.

New study finds evidence to show that the commonly used antimalarial drug, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, is failing to treat patients in some regions of Cambodia.

The World Malaria Report 2015, launched today, focuses on the great strides made against malaria across the world and looks at the challenges that lie ahead for malaria endemic countries.

WWARN and CDISC are working in partnership to develop the first malaria clinical data standard which will facilitate alignment of electronic acquisition, exchange, submission and archiving of clinical malaria data collection.

The new Antiretroviral PK/PD Study Group is pooling data on malaria and HIV co-infections to understand the effects of both antiretrovirals and HIV disease on a patient’s drug exposure to lumefantrine.

The global fight against antimicrobial resistance could be under threat unless the evidence base for policies to control resistance is radically improved, according to a major new series of papers published in The Lancet.

The Parasite Clearance Study Group has provided valuable baseline data on parasite clearance and information on the factors that influence the rate at which malaria parasites are eliminated from a patient’s system.

Research from WWARN’s Head of Medicine Quality suggests that improved guidelines are needed to prevent the use of poor quality medicines in clinical trials.

A new collaborative study is investigating the safety, tolerability and efficacy of two Triple Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (TACTs) to help prolong the lifespan of the important ACTs in the face of increasing artemisinin and partner drug resistance.

Find out about WWARN and partner sessions at the 64th ASTMH Annual Meeting.

Many colleagues will remember Dr Alan Magill, Director of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Alan died suddenly and unexpectedly on 19 September in Seattle.

WWARN’s new Low-dose Primaquine Efficacy and Safety Study Groups are investigating both the safety and efficacy profiles of the antimalarial treatment, primaquine, to stop the transmission of falciparum malaria. Find out how you can get involved.

Will you be attending this year’s American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 64th Annual Meeting? The WWARN team hopes to catch up with you to exchange ideas on how we might work together.

WWARN researchers have worked together with experts at Global Good-Intellectual Ventures Laboratory and the Queensland University of Technnology to produce a new tool designed to support researchers using microscopy in malaria research.