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.

Uses
Artesunate is used primarily as treatment for malaria; but it has also been shown to be &gt;90% efficacious at reducing egg production in Schistosoma haematobium infection.

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 or amodiaquine so as to avoid the development of resistance. The combination of artesunate/amodiaquine has been found to be of equivalent to co-artemether.