Patients with drug-resistant malaria cured by plant therapy

sciencedaily.com

39 points·UhUhUhUh··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.

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...

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

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

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-...

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

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...

Big NGO money isn't on the same scale as big industry money, and it comes with a lot more strings.

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