The success of the antimalarial drug quinine and the discovery of artemisinin, the most potent antimalarial drug, both from plant sources, has led to the study of plants as antimalarial agents. The ethnopharmacological approach for the search of new antimalarial agents from plant sources has proved to be more predictive. In India the National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), started in 1958, achieved near complete disappearance of the disease in 1960s. However, due to the development of insecticide resistance among mosquitoes & other factors, it staged a comeback in the mild 1970s& continues to prevail in endemic/subendemic proportions in different areas. In the present review attempts have been made to understand various aspects of malaria in relation with its cause, epidemiology, and mechanism of action with diverse chemical structure possessing antimalarial activity against different malarial parasites.
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