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.

Malaria vaccine trial: an interview with Professor Sir Brian Greenwood

Malaria is an infection caused by a parasite called plasmodium, which is transmitted from person to person by females of some species of mosquito. It is primarily a disease of tropical countries.

14 Dec 2012

Clinics on Cambodian-Thai border aim to prevent spread of drug-resistant malaria

BBC News examines "a worrying drop in the effectiveness of the artemisinin-based drugs" against malaria along the Cambodian-Thai border, and how clinics are attempting to combat the trend by offering monetary incentives to patients to complete treatment regimens.

27 Nov 2012

AMFm should continue, improvements should be explored

The "grand experiment" of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) -- a pilot program that aims to get artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) into rural areas of several African nations -- "seems likely to end, its successes underrated and potential improvements not yet explored," a Nature editorial says.

22 Nov 2012

Emory University, Georgia Tech to establish Malaria Host-Pathogen Interaction Center

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year contract of up to $19.4 million, depending on contract options exercised, to establish the Malaria Host-Pathogen Interaction Center (MaHPIC).

20 Nov 2012

Global Fund Board announces integration of AMFm into core grant system

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday announced it will "integrate" the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), implemented in 2010 as a pilot program to provide low-cost artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in poor and rural areas, "into its existing core system of providing grants to countries to purchase drugs, bed nets and other malaria-control measures," Nature News Blog reports.

17 Nov 2012

Global health community should save AMFm because it saves lives

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria began as a pilot program in 2010 to "provide a 'co-payment' to the manufacturers of [artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)], thereby allowing commercial wholesalers and private or government health services to purchase the drugs at a fraction of the already low negotiated price," Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate in economic sciences in 1972 and an emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

15 Nov 2012

Malaria Box helps identify three chemical series that target treatment of NTDs

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announce today the identification of three chemical series targeting the treatment of deadly neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), through DNDi's screening of MMV's open access Malaria Box.

14 Nov 2012

Growing concern in Asia over resistance to artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines

"Growing resistance to a key anti-malarial drug derived from a shrub used in traditional Chinese medicine is threatening to roll back gains made in combating the disease," according to experts attending a U.N.-sponsored malaria conference that concluded on Friday in Sydney, Australia, the U.N. News Centre reports.

6 Nov 2012

Affordable Medicines Facility improves access to anti-malarials

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria has resulted in significant improvements in the availability and price of quality-assured artemisinin-based combination therapies in seven African countries after 1 year, show study findings published in The Lancet.

31 Oct 2012

Access to malaria drugs transformed by new global subsidy

A new international scheme providing lifesaving antimalarial drugs at cheap subsidised prices has rapidly transformed access to effective artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) in seven African countries accounting for a quarter of the world’s malaria cases, and could save millions of lives.

31 Oct 2012

Differing opinions about AMFm 'unlikely to be resolved' after Global Fund decision on program's future

In her "Global Health Blog," Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley examines the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), "which aims to enable countries to increase the provision of affordable artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) through not only the public sector but also the private sector and [non-governmental organizations (NGOs)]."

26 Oct 2012

Scientists report on development of new malaria drug

Scientists are reporting development of a new malaria drug that, in laboratory tests, has been twice as effective as the best current medicine against this global scourge and may fight off the disease with one dose, instead of the multiple doses that people often fail to take.

18 Oct 2012

Nature examines future of AMFm

"Although no official decision has been announced about whether to continue the ... Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria (AMFm), many of those familiar with it have told Nature that it must change or be phased out after this year," the magazine reports in an article examining the future of the pilot program that distributes malaria drugs in seven African countries.

4 Oct 2012

Chloroquine begins to work against malaria

Malaria-drug monitoring over the past 30 years has shown that malaria parasites develop resistance to medicine, and the first signs of resistance to the newest drugs have just been observed. At the same time, resistance monitoring at the University of Copenhagen shows that the previously efficacious drug chloroquine is once again beginning to work against malaria. In time that will ensure cheaper treatment for the world's poor.

3 Oct 2012

WHO urges action to stop spread of drug-resistant malaria in Vietnam, Myanmar

"The World Health Organization said Thursday that governments in the Mekong region must act 'urgently' to stop the spread of drug-resistant malaria which has emerged in parts of Vietnam and Myanmar," Agence France-Presse reports.

29 Sep 2012

New technique allows cells to make terpenes

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown how to synthesize in the laboratory an important set of natural compounds known as terpenes. The largest class of chemicals made by living organisms, terpenes are made within cells by some of the most complex chemical reactions found in biology.

24 Sep 2012

First phase of Global Fund-managed AMFm shows success in bringing malaria drugs to clinics

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) -- an innovative financing mechanism that subsidizes the cost of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in order to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria -- "brought more than 100 million doses of malaria drugs to clinics and pharmacies in 2011" and "also increased access to the top malaria medicines by 26 to 52 percent in six countries."

21 Sep 2012

IU chemists develop fully synthetic artemisinin to help reduce cost of live-saving drugs

In 2010 malaria caused an estimated 665,000 deaths, mostly among African children. Now, chemists at Indiana University have developed a new synthesis for the world's most useful antimalarial drug, artemisinin, giving hope that fully synthetic artemisinin might help reduce the cost of the live-saving drug in the future.

14 Sep 2012

Synthetic biology pioneer wins 2012 Heinz Award

Jay Keasling, a leading authority and pioneer on synthetic biology who has engineered microbial "factories" to manufacture an affordable version of a frontline antimalarial drug and biofuel substitutes for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, has won a 2012 Heinz Award, which is presented by the Heinz Family Foundation and carries with it a cash prize of $250,000.

13 Sep 2012

Malaria misdiagnosis: an interview with Dr Toby Leslie

Malaria is caused by a multi-staged parasite which is transmitted by the bite of infected female anopheles mosquitoes. It affects millions of people and kills more than 500,000 people throughout the world every year.

26 Jul 2012