This book summarizes global research on the medicinal plant Artemisia annua and its component artemisinin, an antimalarial agent. It explores further artemisinin applications and future research possibilities.
Artemisinin is an effective antimalarial agent, particularly for multi-drug-resistant and cerebral malaria. As the chemical synthesis of artemisinin is complicated and not economically feasible in view of the poor yield of the drug, the intact plant remains the only viable source for artemisinin production. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the concentration of artemisinin in A. annua to reduce the costs of artemisinin-based drugs. Plant scientists have focused their efforts on A. annua to achieve a higher artemisinin crop yield and summarize their findings in this book.
