In 2015, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in part for the discovery of artemisinin, a plant-derived compound that's proven to be a lifesaver in treating malaria. Yet many people who need the drug are ...
Biotechnology
Oct 20, 2016
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359
Artemisinin is a potent antimalarial compound produced naturally by the Chinese shrub Artemisia annua, commonly known as sweet wormwood. Currently,however, the low amount of artemisinin produced in the leaves of this plant ...
Biotechnology
Apr 24, 2018
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280
Plant scientists at the University of York have published the first genetic map of the medicinal herb Artemisia annua. The map is being used to accelerate plant breeding of Artemisia and rapidly develop the species into a ...
Biotechnology
Jan 14, 2010
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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 ...
Biochemistry
Sep 13, 2012
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0
The largest genome-wide association study to date of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum unveils a complex genetic architecture that enables the parasite to develop resistance to our most effective antimalarial drug, ...
Biotechnology
Jan 19, 2015
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31
Synthetic biology promises far reaching solutions to human concerns, from averting climate catastrophes to medical breakthroughs. But are ethics keeping pace with emerging technology? The case study of engineered Artemisinin, ...
Biotechnology
Jun 6, 2022
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43
(Phys.org)—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 ...
Biochemistry
Sep 24, 2012
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1
Scientists have discovered a gene that allows to double the production of artemisinin in the Artemisia annua plant.The artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is the standard treatment for malaria worldwide, endorsed ...
Biotechnology
Mar 27, 2017
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11
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have developed a method to synthesize the highly potent antimalarial drug artemisinin, which could lead to a more cost-effective treatment ...
Biochemistry
May 2, 2023
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31
Scientists have shed light on how malaria is able to resist treatment with a leading drug.
Biotechnology
Oct 12, 2010
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0
Artemisinin ( /ɑrtɨˈmɪsɨnɨn/), also known as Qinghaosu (Chinese: 青蒿素) , and its derivatives are a group of drugs that possess the most rapid action of all current drugs against falciparum malaria. Treatments containing an artemisinin derivative (artemisinin-combination therapies, ACTs) are now standard treatment worldwide for falciparum malaria. The starting compound artemisinin is isolated from the plant Artemisia annua, a herb described in Chinese traditional medicine.
Chemically, artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone containing an unusual peroxide bridge. It is believed that this peroxide is responsible for the drug's mechanism of action. No other natural compound with such a peroxide bridge is known.
Use of the drug by itself as a monotherapy is explicitly discouraged by the World Health Organization as there have been signs that malarial parasites are developing resistance to the drug. Therapies that combine artemisinin with some other anti-malarial drug are the preferred treatment for malaria and are both effective and well tolerated in patients. The drug is also increasingly being used in vivax malaria as well as being a topic of research in cancer treatment.
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