Arteether reached the market in the Netherlands as a solution in sesame oil,
administered by i.m. injection, for the treatment of severe malaria infections in children and
adolescents. Artheether, a sesquiterpene acetal with an endoperoxide bridge, is an ether
derivative of the naturally occuring compound artemisinin, the active component of
Chinese herbal remedies. As the other structural analogs of artemisinin, such as
artesunate or artemether, it acts rapidly against Plasmodium, the parasite responsible for
the disease, during the early blood stage of its development. It also exhibits a
gametocytocidal activity against Plasmodium falciparum, reducing its potential for
transmission. Because the only controlled clinical studies had been performed in children
and adolescents, this new antimalarial drug was only approved for young patients. Further
studies in adults treated with 150 mg i.m. artemotil, once daily for three consecutive days,
indicated that the drug was efficient, rapidly acting (parasite clearance time meanly 38 h)
and well tolerated. A new promising achievement in the regression of malaria is the
combination of artemisinin derivatives with other long-lived antimalarials as mefloquine or
pyrimethamine/sulfa.
