Sort of drug spreading Italian alarm (12)

I believe the answer is:

antimalarial

'sort of drug' is the definition.

'spreading italian alarm' is the wordplay.
'spreading' indicates an anagram.
'italian'+'alarm'='italianalarm'
'italianalarm' with letters rearranged gives 'ANTIMALARIAL'.

(Another definition for antimalarial that I've seen is " drug".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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