Mefloquine

Mefloquine was developed in the 1970s by the United States Army [22] and is still used today, also being one of the medicines on the MLEM. Originally introduced for the treatment of chloroquine-resistant malaria, it has been used as both a curative and a prophylactic drug. Resistance was first reported in 1986 [23]. It is thought that the structurally related quinoline drugs (such as quinine, mepacrine, chloroquine and mefloquine) act through the disruption of haemoglobin digestion in the blood stage of the parasite [24]. These drugs are commonly used in combination with a complementary drug (e.g. mefloquine and artesunate, sold as Artequin™) to reduce the chance of resistance development to the quinoline family of compounds. Mefloquine is commonly sold in its racemic form under the brand name Lariam®, however, it is no longer widely used due to the perception of central nervous system toxicity that has been suggested to affect a large number of its users [25].