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.

New guidelines on cultivating Artemisia plant used in anti-malaria medicines

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published guidelines for the cultivation and collection of Artemisia (Artemisia annua L., Asteraceae), known in the United States as sweet Annie or annual wormwood, a Chinese traditional medicinal plant which is the source of artemisinin, used to produce the most effective medicines for malaria.

12 Mar 2007

New technologies boost production of malaria drug artemisinin

New technologies that make the large-scale extraction of a natural antimalarial ‘wonder drug' both cheaper and greener are to be developed and trialled in a new European effort.

12 Feb 2007

Africa's health problems are getting worse says the WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says regardless of promises of better healthcare by governments and donor countries, millions of mothers, newborn babies and children continue to die each year in Africa from preventable diseases.

20 Nov 2006

Africa is developing solutions for fighting disease and improving health

The signs are everywhere, across the continent: Africa is finding African approaches to solving its health problems.

20 Nov 2006

WHO gives indoor use of DDT a clean bill of health for controlling malaria

Nearly thirty years after phasing out the widespread use of indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that this intervention will once again play a major role in its efforts to fight the disease.

18 Sep 2006

Distribution of more than 18 million malaria bednets in Africa

Roll Back Malaria Partners are supporting mass distribution of malaria bednets to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from malaria in many endemic countries.

25 Jul 2006

Malaria - the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is quite rightly patting itself on the back because it has persuaded as many as 13 drug companies to abandon the marketing and promotion of monotherapy in the treatment of Malaria.

16 May 2006

Thanks to WHO effective combo malaria therapy will be de-rigueur

Following pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to comply with their recommendation that single-drug artemisinin medicines for the oral treatment of malaria need to be phased out.

15 May 2006

Cheap way to produce expensive malaria drug well on the way

U.S. researchers say a cheap way to produce an expensive but effective malaria drug is well on the way.

13 Apr 2006

Danger of resistance to malaria drug

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines concerning the use of the malaria drug Artemisinin.

22 Jan 2006

Millions from Gates to fight malaria

A British university will benefit from a donation from Bill and Melinda Gates to the tune of £28 million as part of a £145 million gift to malaria research worldwide.

31 Oct 2005

Artemisinin combination therapies have potential to be one of the major public health interventions for Africa in this decade

Despite changes in policy in many African countries, most cases of malaria are still treated with old drugs that often fail, say researchers the British Medical Journal.

3 Oct 2005

WHO urges responsible use of antimalarial medicines

In a new report published today, ''Susceptibility of Plasmodium Falciparum to Antimalarial Drugs,'' the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that as more and more people gain access to these life-saving malaria medicines, which combine a drug derived from the plant Artemisia annua with a second, synthetic drug, it is vital that countries closely monitor their effectiveness.

7 Sep 2005

Combination therapy based on artemisinins might not be the ideal treatment for malaria

If used alone, artemisinins will cure the most severe type of malaria - falciparum malaria - in seven days. However, when used on their own, they have a high risk of the malaria coming back and hence must be combined with other antimalarials to work best.

26 Jul 2005

Malaria still biggest killer of children in Africa

According to new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), progress has been made in preventing and treating malaria since 2000 and more countries are introducing the latest preventative measures to beat the disease.

4 May 2005

Too early to say if Roll Back Malaria initiative is working

Experts say it is too early to assess if an international initiative, Roll Back Malaria (RBM), has had any impact on combating malaria.

3 May 2005

International coalition works to develop a cocktail of drugs to combat Malaria

As Africa marks its own Malaria Day in recognition of the fact that it bears 90% of the deadly disease’s burden, an international research coalition is working to develop a cocktail of drugs that overcomes increasing resistance to conventional treatment exhibited by the elusive parasite.

27 Apr 2005

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, may help prevent cancer

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, contains a compound - glycyrrhizic acid which may stop people with a herpes virus from developing cancer.A research team at New York University found the compound - glycyrrhizic acid - possibly has the ability to stop the virus triggering a form of cancer called Kaposi sarcoma.

2 Mar 2005

Artemisinin could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed

Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.

9 Feb 2005

Update on world antimalarial drug supply

On 8 November, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a shortfall of artemether + lumefantrine, an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) used to treat malaria, for the period between November 2004 and March 2005

26 Dec 2004