Coompo Research Chemicals

Artemether is highly effective against the blood schizonts of both malarial parasites P. falciparum and P. vivax. It is applied in combination with lumefantrine in clinical treatments of malaria. Artemether has been assigned to category C by the FDA on the basis of animal data which shows an association with fetal-loss and deformity. However, clinical data appears to show that artemether is safe in pregnancy. artemether may provide a useful alternative for treating severe malaria in areas where resistance to quinine is a problem.

During early 1980s Chinese scientists, by serendipity, discovered that artemether was not only an antimalarial agent, but also effective against the blood flukes. Artemether exhibits the highest activity against juvenile stages of the trematodes, while adult worms are significantly less susceptible. In addition, there are no indication of neurotoxicity following repeated high doses.
Artemether has been shown to have significant anticancer and antitumor activities. It is demonstrated that artemether caused strong inhibitory effects on brain glioma growth and angiogenesis in rats. It exhibits a dose- and time-dependent cytotoxicity, and induced apoptosis and G2 cell cycle arrest in ovarian cancer cell lines, human leukemia HL60 cells, and human pancreatic cancer BxPC-3 and AsPC-1 cells.