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Ayurveda Cure of Malaria
Malaria is a worldwide problem. Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine have answer to cure the Malaria and its complications.
http://www.slideshare.net/drdbbajpai/ayurveda-cure-of-malaria
WHO approves synthetic source of artemisinin
Early malaria diagnosis-Raman spectroscopy identifies malarial infection by looking for parasite by-products
13 May 2013
Scientists in Japan have developed a technique that could diagnose malaria just one day after infection
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/05/raman-spectroscopy-early-malaria-diagnosis-haem-hemozoin
ARTEMISININ AN ACE ANTIMALARIAL
Artemisinin
by ANTHONY MELVIN CRASTO Ph.D on Jan 20, 2012
- 956 views as on 12 may2013
Anthony Melvin Crasto presents Artemisinin, Glenmark scientist helping millions
amcrasto@gmail.com
http://www.slideshare.net/anthonycrasto64/anthony-melvin-crasto-presents-artemisinin-11174931
The quinine-containing bark of the Cinchona tree is probably the most valuable drug the Americas gave the world
The quinine-containing bark of the Cinchona tree is probably the most valuable drug the Americas gave the world
Read more at chemistryviews
http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/4701281/From_Pharmacy_to_the_Pub_
_A_Bark_Conquers_the_World_Part_1.html
Cinchona or Quina is a genus of about 38 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to the tropical Andes forests of western South America. They are medicinal plants, known as sources for quinine and other compounds.
The name of the genus is due to Carolus “Carl” Linnaeus, who named the tree in 1742 after a Countess of Chinchón, the wife of a viceroy of Peru, who, in 1638, was introduced by native Quechua healers to the medicinal properties of cinchona bark. Stories of the medicinal properties of this bark, however, are perhaps noted in journals as far back as the 1560s–1570s.
It is the national tree of Ecuador and Peru.
Peru offers a branch of cinchona toScience (from a 17th-century engraving):Cinchona, the source of Peruvian bark, is an early remedy against malaria.
The medicinal properties of the cinchona tree were originally discovered by the Quechua peoples of Peru and Bolivia, and long cultivated by them as a muscle relaxant to halt shivering due to low temperatures. The Jesuit Brother Agostino Salumbrino (1561–1642), an apothecary by training and who lived in Lima, observed the Quechua using the quinine-containing bark of the cinchona tree for that purpose. While its effect in treating malaria (and hence malaria-induced shivering) was entirely unrelated to its effect in controlling shivering from cold, it was nevertheless the correct medicine for malaria. The use of the “fever tree” bark was introduced into European medicine by Jesuit missionaries (Jesuit’s bark). Jesuit Barnabé de Cobo (1582–1657), who explored Mexico and Peru, is credited with taking cinchona bark to Europe. He brought the bark from Lima to Spain, and afterwards to Rome and other parts of Italy, in 1632. AfterSpanish colonization of the Americas, the Jesuit missionaries were the first to bring the Jesuit’s bark cinchona compound to Europe in 1632. To maintain their monopoly on cinchona bark, Peru and surrounding countries began outlawing the export of cinchona seeds and saplings beginning in the early 19th century.
Meanwhile, also in the 19th century, the plant’s seeds and cuttings were smuggled out for new cultivation at cinchona plantations in colonial regions of tropical Asia, notably by the British to the British Raj and Ceylon (present day India and Sri Lanka), and by theDutch to Java in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia).
As a medicinal herb, cinchona bark is also known as Jesuit’s bark or Peruvian bark. The bark is stripped from the tree, dried, and powdered for medicinal uses. The bark is medicinally active, containing a variety of alkaloids including the antimalarial compoundquinine and the antiarrhythmic quinidine. Currently, their use is largely superseded by more effective modern medicines.
quinine
cinchonine
PRECLINICAL- 4-quinolone prodrugs, pP4Q-414 , potential treatment of multi-drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria
Medicines for Malaria Venture is investigating 4-quinolone prodrugs including pP4Q-414 (structure shown) and pP4Q-435, for the potential treatment of multi-drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
In April 2013, data were presented at the 104th AACR Meeting in Washington DC. Of the compounds screened, pP4Q-414 and pP4Q-435 prodrug of P4Q-146 and P4Q-158 respectively, showed potent activity against P falciparum. In vivo, of the five mice evaluable, one mouse was cured with pP4Q-414 (at po 10 mg/kg) treatment and two of the five mice were cured with pP4Q-435 (at po 50 mg/kg) treatment
Launch of semi-synthetic artemisinin a milestone for malaria, synthetic biology
Apr 11th, 2013 | |
Launch of semi-synthetic artemisinin a milestone for malaria, synthetic biology |
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(Nanowerk News) Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true. | |
On April 11, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi will launch the large-scale production of a partially synthetic version of artemisinin, a chemical critical to making today’s front-line antimalaria drug, based on Keasling’s discovery.read more at nanowerk
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/biotech/newsid=29955.php The “semi-synthetic” artemisinin is chemically modified to an active drug, such as artesunate, and combined in ACT with another antimalarial drug to lessen the chance that the malaria parasite will develop resistance to artemisinin. Sanofi plans to produce 35 tons of artemisinin in 2013 and, on average, 50 to 60 tons a year by 2014, which will translate to between 80 and 150 million ACT treatments. Sweet wormwood was used in ancient Chinese therapy to treat various illnesses, including fevers typical of malaria. In the 1970s, Chinese scientists rediscovered it and identified its active ingredient, artemisinin, and artemisinin is now extracted from sweet wormwood grown commercially in China, Southeast Asia and Africa. The quality, supply and cost have been unpredictable and inconsistent, however. Keasling’s goal was to create a synthetic version with a stable and ideally lower price that could be produced in sufficient quantity to treat the 300-500 million cases of malaria that arise each year. Sanofi and OneWorld Health, the not-for-profit drug development affiliate of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), have launched a commercial-scale production line for semisynthetic artemisinin, a move they say is “a pivotal milestone in the fight against malaria”. Global demand for artemisinin is the most effective malaria treatment available but the existing botanical supply – which is derived from the sweet wormwood plant – is inconsistent. Therefore, Sanofi says that having “multiple sources of high-quality artemisinin will strengthen the artemisinin supply chain, contribute to a more stable price and ultimately ensure greater availability of treatment”. The company notes that the production line at its facility in Garessio, Italy, will be able to produce enough artemisinin, using technology developed by US firm Amyris, for around 80-150 million artemisinin-based combination therapies by 2014. |