Artemisinin News and Research

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Artemisinin is a drug used to treat multi-drug resistant strains of falciparum malaria. The compound (a sesquiterpene lactone) is isolated from the plant Artemisia annua. Not all plants of this species contain artemisinin.

Baculovirus virion completely eliminates liver-stage parasites in mouse model

Currently, few antimalarial treatments exist that effectively kill liver-stage malaria parasites, which can lay dormant for months or years as in the case of Plasmodium vivax. Researchers from Kanazawa University have successfully demonstrated that administration of a baculovirus virion completely eliminates liver-stage parasites in a mouse model via BV-induced fast-acting innate immunity.

13 Dec 2018

Scientists find way to boost efficacy of powerful antimalarial drug with anti-cancer medicines

Scientists have found a way to boost the efficacy of the world's most powerful antimalarial drug with the help of chemotherapy medicines, according to new research published in the journal Nature Communications.

20 Sep 2018

New mathematical model helps understand transmission of drug-resistant malarial parasites

A new mathematical model for malaria shows how competition between parasite strains within a human host reduces the odds of drug resistance developing in a high-transmission setting.

29 Aug 2018

New laboratory-synthesized molecule appears to fight malaria effectively

A novel laboratory-synthesized molecule based in natural compounds found in marine gliding bacteria - known as marinoquinolines - is a strong candidate for the development of a new antimalarial drug.

10 Aug 2018

Coupling free malaria tests with diagnosis-dependent vouchers can improve rational use of ACTs

Coupling free diagnostic tests for malaria with discounts on artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) when malaria is diagnosed can improve the rational use of ACTs and boost testing rates, according to a cluster-randomized trial published this week in PLOS Medicine by Wendy Prudhomme O’Meara of Duke University, USA, and colleagues.

18 Jul 2018

Giving identical subsidies can get gold-standard medications into the hands of consumers

Equal subsidies "surprisingly powerful," in promoting use of gold-standard medications, new study shows.

9 May 2018

Study reveals lack of access to essential medicines in India

Research has revealed the shocking lack of access to essential medicines in India, despite thousands being approved in an attempt to generate wider availability.

27 Jan 2018

IU scientists discover way to make drug treatment more successful against malaria

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a way to block the ability of parasites that cause malaria to shield themselves against drug treatments in infected mice--a finding that could lead to the development of new approaches to combat this deadly disease in humans.

14 Dec 2017

Researchers identify potential alternatives to tackle drug resistant malaria parasites

A new analysis of all relevant previously published clinical data shows how parasites causing malaria become resistant to a commonly used treatment for malaria in travellers.

11 Dec 2017

GHIT Fund announces US$16.7 million to support development of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, a unique Japanese public-private partnership formed to battle infectious diseases around the globe, today announced US$16.7 million to support development of new compounds for fighting malaria and tuberculosis, a leishmaniasis vaccine and drug, and a treatment for a long-ignored flesh-eating infection.

31 Oct 2017

“Super malaria” resistant to standard medications in South East Asia

The spread of a single multidrug resistant malaria parasite strain in Vietnam is cause for alarm say researchers.

25 Sep 2017

Researchers receive $11.5 million program project grant to eliminate drug resistant malaria

Texas Biomedical Research Institute researchers, Dr. Tim Anderson and Dr. Ian Cheeseman, have partnered with researchers at the University of Notre Dame and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle to pursue studies in drug resistant malaria.

20 Sep 2017

Combination of anti-malarial drug and photosensitizer could effectively kill cancer cells

Artemisinin, a potent anti-malarial drug, has been widely hailed as a promising alternative cancer treatment. Scientists from the National University of Singapore recently showed that its anti-cancer properties could be enhanced by 10 folds when used in combination with Aminolaevulinic acid, a photosensitizer or a drug which, upon exposure to light, leads to generation of free radicals that can kill cells.

18 Sep 2017

Research shows new method for rapidly producing antimalarial drug at industrial scale

Compared to smallpox or typhoid, malaria is proving one of the most challenging human diseases to eradicate - and so remains a real and constant danger to nearly half the world's population.

7 Sep 2017

NIH renews major grant for UW-led research center to understand malaria in India

The National Institutes of Health has renewed a major grant that funds a University of Washington-led research center to understand malaria in India.

20 Jun 2017

Study reveals safety data for using antimalarials during first trimester of pregnancy

Malaria is more common and severe in pregnant women, increasing their risk of miscarriage and other adverse outcomes. The adverse consequences of malaria in pregnancy require prompt, safe, and effective treatment.

3 May 2017

New plant therapy developed at WPI cures patients with drug-resistant malaria

When the standard malaria medications failed to help 18 critically ill patients, the attending physician in a Congo clinic acted under the "compassionate use" doctrine and prescribed a not-yet-approved malaria therapy made only from the dried leaves of the Artemisia annua plant.

25 Apr 2017