Artemisinin: traditional medicine's blockbluster drug

Qinghao

Scott Bauer/US Agricultural Research Service

Artemisinin, which is extracted from Artemisia annua or Chinese sweet wormwood, is the basis for the most effective malaria drugs the world has ever seen.

Western researchers first became aware of the compound in the 1980s, though it had long been used in China to treat malaria.

But it wasn't until 2004 that the WHO endorsed its use worldwide. Much of this delay was because of the skepticism about the drug, and different research groups spent years validating the claims of Chinese traditional healers.

Artemisinin is proving useful against other diseases too and has been shown to have great potential in treating cancers and schistosomiasis.

But the wonder drug is already showing signs of fallibility. Reports from South-East Asia say that in some people, the malaria parasite has become resistant to artemisinin treatment.

Link:

http://www.scidev.net/en/features/integrating-modern-and-traditional-medicine-facts-and-figures.html