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.
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.
Three emerging technologies have the potential to significantly improve supplies of drugs to combat malaria, according to a report published today.
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.
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.
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.
Bill Gates announced today that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $168.7 million to PATH for its Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop vaccines for malaria -- a disease that kills thousands of African children every day.
The New York Times on Tuesday examined the data collection methods used in the World Malaria Report 2008, which was released last week by the World Health Organization (McNeil, New York Times, 9/23).
Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are among 10 countries worldwide that have successfully reached the elimination phase for malaria primarily because of improvements in disease interventions, according to the World Malaria Report 2008, which was released last week by the World Health Organization, the Middle East Times reports.
There were about 247 million malaria cases worldwide in 2006, according to the World Malaria Report 2008, which was released by the World Health Organization on Thursday, Reuters reports (MacInnis, Reuters, 9/18). According to the report, 3.3 billion people worldwide were at risk for malaria in 2006, and the disease remains a major burden among children younger than age five and in many African countries (AFP/Google.com, 9/18).
Uganda's Ministry of Health will provide the artemisinin-based combination therapy Coartem to private health clinics at subsidized prices to curb the spread of malaria in the country, Minister of State for Primary Health Care Emmanuel Otaala said Wednesday, New Vision reports.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis on Monday announced that FDA has granted priority review status for its malaria treatment Coartem, Dow Jones reports.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday launched an international malaria campaign during the opening of a photo exhibit on the disease in Paris, Panapress/Afriquenligne reports.
Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust have identified a key mechanism that enables malaria-infected red blood cells to stick to the walls of blood vessels and avoid being destroyed by the body's immune system. The research, published today in the journal Cell, highlights an important potential new target for anti-malarial drugs.
Philanthropy just got easier and a lot more accessible to the public thanks to the social networking power of the Internet and a ground-breaking partnership between a young British entrepreneur, a global health think tank and an African medical research institute.
Although the pharmaceutical industry has dedicated enormous research efforts over the last 50 years to identify new targets and develop new active ingredients, these efforts have met with limited success.
A unique collaboration between scientists, public health workers and police has led to the arrest by the Chinese authorities of alleged traders of fake anti-malarial drugs in southern China and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs.
The Global Program on Malaria at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs (CCP) received a $15 million grant to develop communication strategies to prevent and treat malaria in rural Tanzania.
"Breaking the Cycle" chronicles five years of scientific discovery conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI).
A new World Bank report says in just two years nearly 20 million long lasting insecticidal nets and more than 15 million doses of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) are on course to be distributed under the World Bank Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa.
Microorganisms may soon be efficiently and inexpensively producing novel pharmaceutical compounds, such as flavonoids, that fight aging, cancer or obesity, as well as high-value chemicals, as the result of research being conducted by University at Buffalo researchers.