Sevuparin and severe Malaria

Malaria-infected red blood cells can, under certain circumstances, stick together in groups on the inside of blood vessels, so-called sequestration, which is believed to be an important cause of the development of severe malaria. Severe malaria mainly affects children under the age of 5 (other risk groups are pregnant women, returning travelers and people with immunodeficiency from e.g. HIV/AIDS) and occurs when the infection is worsened early by severe organ failure, Just like sepsis, severe malaria is a medical emergency with a mortality of about 10-20% and which should therefore be treated urgently and aggressively. Sevuparin has been shown to prevent sequestration and also free parasites from infecting new blood cells ,indicating its potential as an adjunctive treatment supporting the patients with severe malaria in the early phase before anti-malaria treatments start working.

Sevuparin has already shown promising effects on the malaria parasite in patients with uncomplicated malaria and in human samples (Leitgeb et al 2017, Saiwaew et al 2017).