Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) released data on Thursday from the KALUMA Phase 3 study for the new malaria treatment KLU156 (ganaplacide/lumefantrine, or GanLum).

GanLum is a combination of two compounds: ganaplacide, a novel compound with an entirely new mechanism of action, and a new once-daily formulation of existing antimalarial lumefantrine, a longer-acting treatment. 

The novel non-artemisinin antimalarial, which was developed with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), met the study's primary endpoint of non-inferiority to the current standard of care.

The treatment achieved a 97.4% PCR-corrected cure rate using an estimand framework, compared to 94.0% with standard of care.

This equates to cure rates of 99.2% and 96.7% respectively, ...