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.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide $168.7 million for malaria vaccine research

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.

25 Sep 2008

New York Times examines new surveillance measures in WHO's world malaria report 2008

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).

24 Sep 2008

Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia successfully reach malaria elimination phase

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.

22 Sep 2008

Number of annual malaria cases worldwide decreases

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).

22 Sep 2008

Uganda to provide malaria drug coartem to clinics at reduced price

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.

22 Sep 2008

FDA grants priority review status to Novartis' ACT Coartem

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis on Monday announced that FDA has granted priority review status for its malaria treatment Coartem, Dow Jones reports.

16 Sep 2008

Nicolas Sarkozy launches international malaria campaign

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.

11 Sep 2008

Scientists reveal potential new target for anti-malarial drugs

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.

10 Jul 2008

Social networking, malaria and philanthropy partnership

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.

20 Apr 2008

Interaction networks: the new path to drug discovery

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.

17 Apr 2008

Fake antimalarial drugs analysis highlights threat to global health

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.

13 Feb 2008

$15 million boost for malaria treatment in rural Tanzania

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.

12 Dec 2007

Johns Hopkins details scientific breakthroughs in malaria prevention and treatment

"Breaking the Cycle" chronicles five years of scientific discovery conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI).

24 Oct 2007

World Bank updates on malaria situation in Africa

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.

12 Oct 2007

Researchers genetically engineering microorganisms, such as E. coli, into tiny, cellular factories

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.

18 Sep 2007

Start of Phase II trial of intravenous artesunate for children with severe malaria

A multicentre Phase II trial of intravenous artesunate will begin recruitment of patients in September.

30 Aug 2007

More effective treatment for malaria control during pregnancy in Africa

A review of previous studies indicates that two doses of a malaria preventive therapy during pregnancy provides substantial benefit to HIV-negative women in Africa, with more frequent dosing apparently necessary for HIV-positive women, according to an article in the June 20 issue of JAMA.

20 Jun 2007

New understanding of anti-malarial drug resistance

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center say they are moving closer to understanding why the most lethal form of human malaria has become resistant to drug treatment in the past three decades.

8 Jun 2007

Diagnostic tests for Malaria are often underused in Zambia

Despite improvements in the ability to diagnose malaria, these diagnostic tests are often underused in Zambia, and patients with negative test results are often prescribed anti-malaria medications, according to a study in the May 23/30 issue of JAMA , a theme issue on malaria.

24 May 2007

Malaria-infected mice cured by one dose of new drug from Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins University researchers have cured malaria-infected mice with single shots of a new series of potent, long lasting synthetic drugs modeled on an ancient Chinese herbal folk remedy.

18 Apr 2007