What is the other organisation's opinion for artemisinin?

The World Health Organisation has recommended that a switch to ACT should be made in all countries where the malaria parasite has developed resistance to chloroquine. Artemisinin and its derivatives are now standard components of malaria treatment in China, Vietnam, and some other countries in Asia and Africa, where they have proved to be safe and effective anti-malarial drugs. They have minimal adverse side effects. Currently, artemisinin is not widely available in the United States or Canada, but is easy to find in Africa and Asia. There have been some concerns about the quality of some products on offer in Africa,[6] where so called 'Artemisinin Combination Treatments' are sold, having cheaper ineffective substitutes in place of Artemisinin, the most expensive ingredient.

To counter the present shortage in leaves of Artemisia annua, researchers have been searching for a way to develop artemisinin artificially in the laboratory. A recent paper in Nature[7] presented a genetically engineered yeast that can synthesize a precursor called artemisinic acid which can be chemically converted to Artemisinin. The compound called OZ-277 (also known as RBx11160), developed by Jonathan Vennerstrom at the University of Nebraska, has proved to be even more effective than the natural product in test-tube trials. A six month trial of the drug on human subjects in Thailand was started in January 2005. There are also plans to have the plant grow in other areas of the world outside Vietnam and China (Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar).

Analogues

There are a number of derivatives and analogues within the artemisinin family:

Artesunate (water-soluble: for oral, rectal, intramuscular, or intravenous use)
Artemether (lipid-soluble: for oral, rectal or intramuscular use)
Arteether
Dihydroartemisinin
Artelinic acid
Artenimol

Artemotil

What is the function of artemisinin?

Cancer treatment

Artemisinin is under early research and testing for treatment of cancer, primarily by researchers at the University of Washington.[8] [9] Artemisinin has a peroxide lactone group in its structure. It is thought that when the peroxide comes into contact with high iron concentrations (common in cancerous cells), the molecule becomes unstable and releases reactive oxygen species. It has been shown to reduce angiogenesis and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in some tissue cultures.

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