Coartem is the commercial name of artemether–lumefantrine, a drug combination effective in treating malaria, developed by the Ciba and Sandoz laboratories in 1996. Subsequent to their merger, the patent now belongs to Novartis. It was added to the WHO essential drug list,1 showing a success rate above 95%. To help fight malaria, which kills approximately 1 million people every year 2, mostly in Third-World countries, the WHO and Novartis concluded an agreement to help manufacture and sell the drug at lower costs in countries where the average income rarely exceeds two dollars a day. An audit found that Novartis lost 80 cents for every dose sold.3 The expected number of orders for 2006 was 100 million, but due to local difficulties, namely the lack of a proper health infrastructure in Third World countries, the number of doses actually sold will be far less than that.4
A dose of Coartem now costs 55 cents for a child up to age 3.5
References
^[1] An FAQ on health-based issues, particularly those concerning Southern Africa
