Patients with drug-resistant malaria cured by plant therapy

Patients with drug-resistant malaria cured by plant therapy(sciencedaily.com)

39 points by UhUhUhUh 9 years ago | 8 comments

it's interesting that the dried leaf formulation was more potent than the extract alone:

...dried leaves of the Artemisia annua plant delivers 40 times more artemisinin to the blood than does the drug based on the chemical extract of the plant.

blacksmith_tb 9 years ago | |

Curiously, Absinthe (which is made from Artemisia - aka Wormwood) was a malaria preventative for the French Foreign Legion[1] which presumably did increase the willingness of patients to take it, at least.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe#Rapid_growth_of_Frenc...

HillaryBriss 9 years ago | | |

interesting to learn that. sounds like the French had a more effective approach than the British (i.e. Gin and Tonic).

petard 9 years ago |

Let's hope this doesn't get patented by the big guys.

fasteo 9 years ago | |

I don't think natural occurring elements are eligible for a patent[1][2], or at least, they are not easily eligible for a patent.

[1] http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2014/04/08/can...

[2] https://www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-announcements/guidance-...

throwanem 9 years ago | |

It won't. There's no money in malaria.

vezycash 9 years ago | | |

Some African countries subsidize the price of malaria drugs. And NGOs who distribute these drugs are backed by big money such as Bill's foundation, WHO...