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Arteether
is a semi synthetic derivative of artemisinine,
the active constituent of the plant, Artemisia annua.
CDRI conducted extensive preclinical,
toxicological and other regulatory studies in which the drug was not
only found to be very safe but also proved to be a fast acting, blood
schizontocidal agent which attacks at the
erythrocytic stage of malaria in blood.
Extensive clinical trials were conducted at 7
centres in malaria prone areas of India. Over 500 patients showed
excellent response and the recrudescent rate was very low.
Arteether has been developed by
CDRI and is being prescribed to the patients
as second line of treatment for chloroquine-resistant P. falciparim
malaria including cerebral malaria.
Though
choloroquine has been and still remain one of
the most extensively used first line drug for malaria, resistance against
this drug is quite frequent. Search for a drug which could be more effective
than chloroquine and which could minimize the
chance of resistance development has been going on the world over.
CDRI has always been quite in the forefront in
searching for natural or synthetic drug that could be used as a weapon to
fight malaria since it is causing so much of devastation in tropical
countries, especially India. Many plants used by traditional systems of
medicine have been tried and many of the leads are being pursued. |
