TABLE 5.

Allometric interpolation of antimalarial doses in comparison to current pharmacopeial recommendations

Drug	Route of administration	Standard regimena	Dose (mg) for:
			15-kg child		25-kg child
			Referenceb	Allometryc	Referenceb	Allometryc
Dihydroartemisinin (as IV artesunate)	IV	Dose at 0, 12, 24 h, then once/day (2.4 mg/kg/dose)	35	45	60	70
Artemetherd	Oral	Twice/day for 3 days	40	30	60	40
Clindamycin	Oral	Twice/day for 7 days (10 mg/kg/dose)	150	260	250	360
Piperaquine	Oral	Once/day for 3 days (18 mg/kg/day)	270	290	450	470
Mefloquine	Oral	2/3 total dose day 1; 1/3 total dose day 2 (25-mg/kg total dose)	375	790	625	1,025
Quinine	IV	Three times per day for 5–7 days (10 mg/kg/dose)	150	370	250	460

^aAs reported by the World Health Organization (1) and confirmed by reference to the British National Formulary.

^bBased on mg/kg doses and practical recommendations.

^cBased on reference doses and equation 3, where adult dose was according to a 70-kg body weight and the allometric exponent was from Table 1. Doses were mostly rounded to a 10-mg increment rather than the nearest practical dose.

^dCurrent artemether dose recommendation is for body weight range (1, 2, 3, and 4 20-mg tablets for patients weighing 5 to 14 kg, 15 to 24 kg, 25 to 34 kg, and >34 kg, respectively). The adult (70 kg) dose is therefore the same as that for a child of 34 kg (80 mg), which equates to 1.1 mg/kg for adults and 2.3 mg/kg for the 34-kg child. Hence, current practical dose recommendations are higher (mg/kg) for children and vary within the weight ranges.