Cherry-flavored malaria drug launched

? Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is launching a new cherry-flavored malaria drug that it says children will be less likely to spit out.

The child-friendly version of its Coartem malaria pill dissolves in water, as well as breast milk, and tastes like fruit juice.

“If our children accept this new form (of the malaria drug) then it will mark a major step forward,” Senegalese Health Minister Safiatou Thiam Sy said on the sidelines of Friday’s launch in the West African country.

Though preventable and treatable, malaria remains one of the world’s biggest killers, claiming 1 million lives each