Artesunate
Artesunate for InjectionPubChem CID 6917864 · 3D model
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Breaks apart inside malaria parasites when it contacts the iron they release from digesting blood, creating destructive molecules that kill the parasite from within.
How it works
Artesunate is a lab-modified version of a compound first purified from sweet wormwood, a plant used in Chinese medicine for centuries. Once it enters the bloodstream, the body quickly converts it into its active form, DHA. Both forms share an unusual chemical feature — a direct bond between two oxygen atoms — that most drugs don't have. Malaria parasites release iron as they digest red blood cells, and when the drug meets that iron inside the parasite, the oxygen-oxygen bond splits and forms unstable, highly reactive molecules that damage the parasite's proteins and other essential parts from within.
What it’s used for
Artesunate for injection is approved to treat severe, potentially life-threatening malaria in adults and children, as the first stage of treatment — once the IV drug brings the infection under control, patients must complete a full course of an oral antimalarial pill. It doesn't reach a dormant liver-stage form that two malaria species can hide in, so people infected with those species need an additional drug to prevent the infection from returning.
- Mechanism
- Endoperoxide-mediated oxidative damage (antimalarial)
- Drug class
- Small molecule
- Therapeutic area
- Antimalarial