By Jennifer Rigby

LONDON (Reuters) -A new antimalarial drug developed by Novartis is as effective as existing treatments and could help tackle rising drug resistance, the company said on Wednesday as it presented final-stage trial results.

The drug, ganaplacide/lumefantrine or GanLum, was developed by the company and the Medicines for Malaria Venture, a non-profit.

It was more than 97% effective at treating malaria in a phase III trial among 1,688 adults and children across 34 sites in 12 African countries, Novartis said.

Malaria still kills more than 600,000 people annually, most of them children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.

RISING RESISTANCE

Existing treatments still work against the mosquito-borne disease – with an effectiveness of around 94% – but there is increasing concern ab

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