Researchers say a drug commonly used to treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis has also proved effective in treating some aggressive cancers. When scientists administered hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, together with known cancer drugs, they found it stopped the growth of cancerous tumors in two-thirds of the patients. Scientists know that human cancer cells grow by getting … [Read more...]
Open Source Drug Discovery for Malaria
March 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In open source drug discovery all data and ideas are freely and immediately shared, and anyone may participate at any level. Dr Mat Todd, from the University of Sydney's School of Chemistry, recently led a meeting titled Open Source Drug Discovery for Malaria, to discuss the application of the open source model to discovering drugs to treat malaria. "The open nature of the work means there … [Read more...]
“Test and Treat” Model Offers New Strategy for Eliminating Malaria
February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
As researchers work to eliminate malaria worldwide, new strategies are needed to find and treat individuals who have malaria, but show no signs of the disease. The prevalence of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic malaria can be as high as 35 percent in populations with malaria and these asymptomatic individuals can serve as a reservoir for spreading malaria even in areas where disease … [Read more...]
Malaria Deaths 2x Greater than Previously Reported
February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Malaria is killing more people worldwide than previously thought, but the number of deaths has fallen rapidly as efforts to combat the disease have ramped up, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. More than 1.2 million people died from malaria worldwide in 2010, twice the number found in the most recent … [Read more...]
Scientists Develop Method to Synthesize Artemisinin Inexpensively and in Large Quantities
January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In future it should be possible to produce the best anti-malaria drug, artemisinin, more economically and in sufficient volumes for all patients. The most effective anti-malaria drug can now be produced inexpensively and in large quantities. This means that it will be possible to provide medication for the 225 million malaria patients in developing countries at an affordable … [Read more...]
Counterfeit Anitmalarial Drugs Threaten Crisis in Africa
January 16, 2012 By 1 Comment
Hopes of at last controlling malaria in Africa could be dashed by the emergence of poor-quality and fraudulent antimalarial medicines, warn experts writing in Malaria Journal. Unless urgent action is taken both within Africa and internationally, they argue, millions of lives could be put at risk. … [Read more...]
Artemisinin Hailed as One of the Greatest Advances in Fight Against Malaria
January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Chinese drug artemisinin has been hailed as one of the greatest advances in fighting malaria, the scourge of the tropics, since the discovery of quinine centuries ago. Artemisinin’s discovery is being talked about as a candidate for a Nobel Prize in Medicine. Millions of American taxpayer dollars are spent on it for Africa every year. But few people realize that in one of the paradoxes of … [Read more...]
Mosquito Immune System Can Be Engineered to Block Malaria
December 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that the Anopheles mosquito’s innate immune system could be genetically engineered to block the transmission of the malaria-causing parasite to humans. In addition, they showed that the genetic modification had little impact on the mosquito’s fitness under laboratory conditions. “The immune system of the Anopheles mosquito is capable of … [Read more...]
Researchers Introduce Technology to Manufacture Artemisinin in Tobacco Plants
December 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Combating malaria is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals described in the United Nations Millennium Declaration signed by all UN members at the year 2000. A key intervention to control malaria is prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies. Artemisinin is a natural compound from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) plants, but low-cost artemisinin-based drugs … [Read more...]
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