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.
CDRI got a major success when it developed
Arteether from the plant Artemisia annua
while working in collaboration with,
Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic
plants (CIMAP), the other CSIR laboratory
based at Lucknow.
The Drugs
Controller General (India) has
allowed the drug exclusively for use in hospitals
and nursing homes.
Being a new drug, it is indicated for use
only in severe P. falciparum malaria including
cerebral malaria as a second line treatment
for chloroquine resistant cases. It is not
recommended to be used as a first line treatment
for malaria to avoid its overuse which may
lead to the emergence of resistance against
this drug once again.
CDRI has licensed the drug to Themis
Chemicals Ltd., Mumbai which
is marketing it under the trade name
E-Mal as an injectable formulation.
Post marketing surveillance data on 400
patients received from clinicians from 6
states has validated the efficacy and safety
of Arteether in uncomplicated/complicated
cases of P.falciparum malaria. No drug related
side effects have been observed so far.
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<%
if session("iNumber")="" then
'conn.open mydsn
Dim rsHits
Set rsHits=Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
rsHits.CursorLocation=adUseClient
rsHits.Open "Select visits from Hits", conn, adOpenKeyset, adLockOptimistic
session("iNumber")=rsHits("visits") + 1
rsHits("visits")=rsHits("visits") + 1
rsHits.Update
rsHits.Close
set rsHits=Nothing
end if
If Len(session("iNumber")) > 0 then
'Display iNumber
Response.Write "
" & ConstructDigits(session("iNumber")) & "
"
End If
''''
Function ConstructDigits(iValue)
'This function accepts a single parameter, iValue, and
'returns HTML containing a series of images representing
'a graphical image of the value in iValue
'Start by ensuring iValue is a number
If Not IsNumeric(iValue) then
ConstructDigits = iValue & " IS NOT A NUMBER!"
Exit Function
End If
'Can't show decimals!
If InStr(1, iValue, ".") then
ConstructDigits = "CANNOT CONTAIN DECIMALS!"
Exit Function
End If
'Can't show negative numbers!
If iValue < 0 then
ConstructDigits = "CANNOT DISPLAY NEGATIVE NUMBERS!"
Exit Function
End If
Dim iLoop, strResults
For iLoop = (Len(iValue) - 1) to 0 STEP -1
strResults = strResults & ""
Next
ConstructDigits = strResults
End Function
''''
%>
