Development of antimalarial drugs and their application in China: a historical review

Table 1 Artemisinins and other antimalarials

*Drug*	*Date of discovery or creation*	*Initial action in parasite*	Cross- resistance to CQ*	*Half-life (h)*	*Route of administration for treatment*	*Reference*
Artemisinin	1973	Membrane system, on membrane of food vacuoles etc.	Low	0.5–0.7	po	[5, 8–10]
Artemether	1976		Ditto	0.90 ± 0.37	po, im	[8, 11, 18]
Artesunate	1977		Ditto	0.6–0.8	po, im, iv	[23, 24]
Dihydroartemisinin	1976		Ditto	2.6	po	[11, 27]
Piperaquine	1965	Food vacuoles	Possession	216	po	[30–32]
Pyronaridine	1970	1. Food vacuoles	Without	65,251**	po, im, iv drip	[38–45]
		2. Pellicular complexes
Benflumetol	1976	***	***	47.4	po	[51, 52]
Naphthoquine	1981	Membrane system	Possession	41–57	po	[56]

*The tests were against P. berghei in mice. CQ: chloroquine.
**By different methods.
***The initial action and cross-resistance of the drug were reported to be similar to those of mefloquine.

ISSN: 2049-9957