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.

Prevalence of artemisinin monotherapies raising risk of resistence

Almost half of all artemisinin manufacturers and malaria-endemic countries are "failing to comply" with WHO requirements to sell the treatment in combination with other drugs, which is increasing the risk that malaria parasites will develop resistance to artemsinin, Nature reports.

15 Jul 2009

Artemisinin-based combination therapy for treating uncomplicated malaria

Current combination malaria therapies recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) provide adequate treatment for mild malaria, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review of the evidence. However, selected trials had high failure rates for some combinations and evidence for the effectiveness of anti-malarial therapies is lacking in some vulnerable groups.

7 Jul 2009

International scientists' network to map drug-resistant malaria

PTI/Hindu reports on the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) – an "international network of malaria scientists," which will be "established to map the emergence of resistance" to malaria drugs and "guide global efforts to control and eradicate the disease."

13 Jun 2009

Simple blood test proves powerful ally in the fight against malaria

Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown that rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for malaria infection can provide valuable support for healthcare in low and mid-income countries in the fight against the disease.

30 Apr 2009

Rapid malaria tests improve health outcomes in practice

A new study, carried out in primary care units in Zanzibar and published in this week's issue of PLoS Medicine, evaluates the impact of rapid malaria tests on prescribing practice and clinical outcomes.

30 Apr 2009

Malaria death in Zambia decline by 66%

Malaria deaths reported from health facilities in Zambia have declined by 66%. This result along with other supporting data indicates that Zambia has reached the 2010 Roll Back Malaria target of a more than 50% reduction in malaria mortality compared to 2000.

23 Apr 2009

Scientists, health officials increasing efforts to fight apread of drug-resistant malaria along Thai-Cambodian border

Scientists and health officials are increasing efforts to curb a drug-resistant malaria strain along the Thai-Cambodian border that is becoming increasingly resistant to artemisinin, an ingredient in artemisinin-based combination therapies, IRIN News reports.

30 Mar 2009

Tools for more accurate dosage of drugs against HIV/AIDS and malaria

A doctoral thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that it is possible to describe and quantify the relationships between dose, concentration and effectiveness of several drugs against HIV/AIDS and malaria.

8 Mar 2009

Synthetic biology extends anti-malaria drug artemisinin's effectiveness

In addition to providing a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today, synthetic biology can also help to extend the effectiveness of this drug.

8 Mar 2009

Tanzania to introduce ACTs to prevent drug-resistant malaria

Tanzania's government plans to introduce artemisinin-based combination malaria treatments to prevent the development of drug resistance, the Guardian/IPP Media reports.

5 Mar 2009

Emergence of parasites resistant to artemisinin could set back malaria control success

WHO today said that the emergence of parasites resistant to artemisinin at the Thai-Cambodia border could seriously undermine the success of the global malaria control efforts.

25 Feb 2009

Combo malaria treatment dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine shows promise

The results of two new large scale trials show that the combination of dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine (DHA+PQP) not only is effective against uncomplicated malaria in a way which is comparable to other artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), but it also protects patients against new infections for at least two months after treatment.

19 Jan 2009

First artemisinin based malaria drug may meet resistance, expert says

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve the first malaria drug to contain artemisinin, a wormwood derivative from China that has proven effective for malaria in Africa and Asia.

8 Jan 2009

Tobacco plants grown in novel mist bioreactor system provide new soure of interleukin-12

Interleukin-12 is a naturally occurring protein essential for the proper functioning of the human immune system.

3 Dec 2008

Broccoli compound, indole-3-carbinol targets key enzyme in late-stage cancer

An anti-cancer compound found in broccoli and cabbage works by lowering the activity of an enzyme associated with rapidly advancing breast cancer, according to a University of California, Berkeley, study appearing this week in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

3 Dec 2008

Artemisinin combination therapies may be almost as effective as treated bednets in preventing malaria

Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) could be almost as effective in reducing transmission of malaria as insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) in areas of low transmission, a study based on data from Tanzania has found. In high transmission areas, long-acting antimalarial regimens may be needed to achieve significant transmission reductions.

24 Nov 2008

New technologies improve supplies of drugs to combat malaria

Three emerging technologies have the potential to significantly improve supplies of drugs to combat malaria, according to a report published today.

18 Nov 2008

How should we assess new antimalarial drugs?

In recent years, the use of a three-day course of an antimalarial treatment called ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) in over 40 countries that face endemic malaria has shown great success in curing this deadly disease.

18 Nov 2008

New and improved scientific method to forecast the demand for key anti-malarial treatments

Treating infectious diseases while meeting escalating costs to do so continues to pose worldwide challenges, with one of the main issues being the ability to provide an adequate supply of drugs to treat infectious diseases.

17 Nov 2008

Medicines for Malaria venture launches five-year plan for new drugs

Medicines for Malaria Venture has outlined a $600 million, five-year plan to develop new malaria drugs, SciDev.net reports. The plan was launched in conjunction with the release last week of the Global Malaria Action Plan, which aims to eradicate malaria worldwide.

5 Oct 2008