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.

GHIT Fund grants US$5.7 million to six global partnerships working on vaccines against malaria

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), a new public health partnership that is bringing Japanese know-how and investment to the global fight against infectious diseases, announced today grants of US$5.7 million to six global partnerships working on innovative drugs and vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and Chagas disease.

8 Nov 2013

Malaria elimination and insecticide resistance: an interview with Professor Hilary Ranson, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

The first malaria elimination programme was in the 1950s and 1960s. Malaria was eliminated from many countries in Asia and the Americas, largely by indoor spraying with insecticide. But the campaign had very little impact in Africa and eventually resources were moved away from malaria control.

30 Oct 2013

Scientists develop novel, rapid way to test artemisinin-resistant malaria

For the first time, scientists have developed a novel and rapid way to test whether the most common and lethal form of malaria is resistant to potent artemisinin drugs.

12 Sep 2013

Test-based approach of WHO unsuitable for regions where lot of malaria occurs: Research

In view of the sharp rise in treatment costs of malaria, the World Health Organization says that there must be a hard diagnosis before the disease is treated.

29 Jun 2013

Malaria control strategies: an interview with Sir Richard Feachem, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco

Exciting progress has been made in the global fight against malaria. The malaria map continues to shrink each year; in the last ten years four countries have been certified malaria-free, and thirty-four additional countries are now working towards malaria elimination targets.

17 Jun 2013

Discovery could reveal potential new drug options for malaria treatment

Malaria parasites that develop resistance to the most effective class of anti-malarial drugs may become susceptible to other treatments as a result. The discovery could reveal potential new drug options, which would be essential in the event of resistance to the best anti-malarials.

4 Jun 2013

U.N. urges sustained support for prevention, treatment activities on World Malaria Day

On World Malaria Day (April 25), the U.N. "warned ... that malaria maintains its impact on less developed countries, mainly in Africa, where millions of people lack needed attention," and in a message marking the day, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "urged political leaders and health authorities of states where malaria is endemic to keep their commitment to achieve universal access to prevention and treatment of malaria".

26 Apr 2013

U.S. CDC, FDA, armed forces taking action to fight malaria

Testifying before Congress this week, CDC Director Thomas Frieden "said the challenge in the fight against malaria, which in Africa alone kills one child every minute, is staying one step ahead of the malaria parasite" and "cited the need for better public health surveillance, and urged Congress to fund better detection tools".

26 Apr 2013

WHO highlights threat of antimalarial drug resistance in Greater Mekong subregion

On World Malaria Day, 25 April, WHO recognizes significant accomplishments in preventing and controlling malaria, including in high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but highlights the threat of antimalarial drug resistance in south-east Asia's Greater Mekong subregion, where an emergency response is now being launched.

25 Apr 2013

Blog examines implications of synthetic artemisinin production for global health

"This week, PATH and our partners celebrated the official launch of the production line for a new synthetic version of artemisinin, the key ingredient for the gold-standard malaria treatment -- one that plays a major role in protecting the lives of children and adults worldwide," PATH President and CEO Steve Davis writes in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

19 Apr 2013

Production of synthetic artemisinin an attack against farmers currently growing the plant

"On Thursday, the founder of Amyris Biotech triumphantly announced production of 70 million doses of the anti-malarial compound artemisinin," Jim Thomas, research program director for ETC group, a technology watchdog that works with farmers' organizations, writes in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

16 Apr 2013

New process to create malaria drug artemisinin should provide stable supply, reduce cost, researchers report

"U.S. scientists on Wednesday said they had used baker's yeast to make a key ingredient of malaria drugs, a feat that could iron out fluctuations in supply caused by sourcing the chemical from a Chinese herb," Artemisia annua, Agence France-Presse reports (4/10).

12 Apr 2013

Sanofi launches large-scale production of artemisinin for malaria

Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true.

12 Apr 2013

Immature malaria parasites more resistant to treatment with artemisinin

New research has revealed that immature malaria parasites are more resistant to treatment with key antimalarial drugs than older parasites, a finding that could lead to more effective treatments for a disease that kills one person every minute and is developing resistance to drugs at an alarming rate.

20 Feb 2013

To overcome challenges in Africa's malaria response, focus on testing, treatment at community level

"Significant investment in malaria research has yielded effective interventions such as insecticide treated nets, indoor residual spraying and artemisinin-based combination therapies to control the disease, but its burden continues to be felt among the poorest," George Okello, a research fellow at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and Nina Cromeyer Dieke, communications manager for the Global Atlas of Helminth Infections based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, write in an opinion piece in the Guardian's "Global Development Professionals Network."

13 Feb 2013

Subsidised antimalarial drugs: an interview with Kara Hanson

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the currently recommended drugs for treating malaria. However, they are expensive, which limits their affordability. This means that people with malaria are likely to buy cheaper, less effective antimalarials such as chloroquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine; or to simply buy painkillers and antipyretics.

25 Jan 2013

New low-cost combined therapy shows promise against malaria

Malaria brings misery and death to millions in the developing world each year, and fighting it keeps medical researchers up at night because the mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the deadliest form of the disease, has developed resistance to every drug thrown at it. Resistance has cut short the useful life of nearly every therapy tried so far, experts say.

21 Dec 2012

NPR, Inter Press Service examine efforts to prevent drug-resistant malaria

As part of its continuing coverage of malaria, NPR's "Shots" blog features a story on counterfeit anti-malarial drugs, which "are among the most popular drugs to fake." According to the blog, "These faux pharmaceuticals are particularly dangerous because malaria can kill a person in a matter of days," and, if the drugs contain only a small amount of the real drug, they can contribute to the development of drug-resistant malaria parasites.

21 Dec 2012

Malaria progress at risk as funding for global response levels off, WHO report states

"The remarkable gains made in the treatment of malaria over the past decade are under threat because of insufficient increases in funding over the past two years, according to an annual progress report by the World Health Organization," the Guardian reports.

20 Dec 2012

Maryland researchers launch groundbreaking study into spread of drug-resistant malaria in Burma

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers have launched groundbreaking research into the spread of potentially deadly drug-resistant malaria in the developing Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

17 Dec 2012