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November 16, 2003
Ancient Chinese Secret
A new anti-malarial drug is set for release in a few months that is claiming an almost 100% cure rate.
The brainchild of professor Li Guoqiao of the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Artekin has been 30 years in the making. The drug's origins lie in Project 523 — a secret military outfit that was set up in 1967 to help Vietnamese communists defeat the United States.
"The biggest enemy for both the Americans and the Vietnamese was malaria. Project 523 was set up to help the Vietnamese military defeat malaria," said Mr. Li, who joined 523 at its inception. He spent the next seven years trying to find a cure. Then, on a trip to the mountainous Yunnan province in 1974, he came across a plant called qinghao — which was first mentioned as a cure for malaria in Chinese medicine books dating from 340 BC.
The plant extract is called artemisinin, and Mr. Li was astonished to see that it could even cure patients with advanced cases of complicated malaria, such as the cerebral version, which are usually fatal.
Projected cost is as little as $1.20 per dose.
Great news for all those countries whose populations have been decimated by malaria since the DDT ban began.
Posted by Rita at November 16, 2003 09:00 AM