ARTESUNATE

'Artesunate' (INN) is part of the artemisinin group of drugs that treat malaria. It is a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin that is water-soluble and may therefore be given by injection. It is sometimes abbreviated 'AS'.

Contents

Uses

Dosing

Footnotes

Uses

Artesunate is used primarily as treatment for malaria; but it has also been shown to be >90% efficacious at reducing egg production in ''Schistosoma haematobium'' infection.^[1]

Dosing

There are no licensed forms of artesunate available in the U.S. or UK. In the UK, artesunate is available on a named patient basis only.
Intravenous dose of IV artesunate:

★ 2.4 mg/kg loading dose over 5 minutes

★ 1.2 mg/kg dose 12 hours later

★ 1.2 mg/kg once daily after that
Artesunate must always be given with another antimalarial such as mefloquine^[2][3] or amodiaquine^[4] so as to avoid the development of resistance. The combination of artesunate/amodiaquine has been found to be of equivalent to co-artemether.^[5]

Footnotes

1. Antischistosomal efficacy of artesunate combination therapies administered as curative treatments for malaria attacks., Boulangier D, Dieng Y, Cisse B, ''et al.'', , , Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 2007
2. Randomised trial of artesunate and mefloquine alone and in sequence for acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria, Looareesuwan S, Viravan C, Vanijanonta S, ''et al.'', , , Lancet, 1992
3. Effects of artesunate-mefloquine combination on incidence of Plasmodium falciparum malaria and mefloquine resistance in western Thailand: a prospective study, Nosten F, van Vugt M, Price R, ''et al.'', , , Lancet, 2000
4. Amodiaquine-artesunate versus amodiaquine for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in African children: a randomised, multicentre trial, Adjuik M, Agnamey P, Babiker A, ''et al.'', , , Lancet, 2002
5. Artemether-lumefantrine versus artesunate plus amodiaquine for treating uncomplicated childhood malaria in Nigeria: randomized controlled trial, Meremikwu M, Alaribe A, Ejemot R, ''et al.'', , , Malar J, 2006