MEFLOQUINE AWARENESS
CANADA
A Brief History of a Long-Debated Drug
In the 1960s, the United States
military tested Mefloquine for malaria-killing
activity because anti-malarial drugs prior to mefloquine
were no longer effective, and alternatives were urgently needed to protect
troops fighting wars in Indo-China.
After the Vietnam War (1954-75),
development of an anti-malarial drug was transferred to the pharmaceutical
industry which worked in collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of
ResearchÕs (WRAIR) malaria drug discovery program from 1963-76. While animal
tests and clinical trials in humans were designed to help define dosing, no studies were completed to determine the potential ill-effects of
the drug: any studies which should have been performed prior to the licensing
of Lariam (mefloquine) were
never carried out.
Lariam (mefloquine) was approved by the US
Food and Drug Administration in 1989. Since the mid-1990s, neurotoxicity has
been an evident and frequent result of taking mefloquine;
studies undertaken since 1997 have confirmed mefloquineÕs
potential for causing psychological illness and an excess of neuropsychiatric
adverse effects.
Canada introduced mefloquine to its troops for the first time during their
deployment to Somalia from 1992-93, and despite the tragedy of the Somalia
Affair, despite persistent reporting of mefloquineÕs
negative impact on Canadian soldiers and their families, despite the high
incidence of suicide, violence, and tragedy, the Canadian Armed Forces is still
administering the drug to its troops.
References:
1.
A lesson learnt: the rise and
fall of Lariam and Halfan. J R Soc
Med.
2007 Apr; 100(4): 170Ð174. doi: 10.1258/jrsm.100.4.170
2.
Weekly
Dose: mefloquine, an antimalarial drug made to win
wars. The
Conversation: Academic rigor, journalistic flair | health+medicine.
April 27, 2016
12.39am EDT
3.
The History of the Anti-Malaria Treatment Mefloqunie (Lariam) in the
Military. Exerpt from Bonnie ToewsÕ blog, Heart Tugs É At the Crossroads of Humanity
(2010)