Drug Eruption and Interactions - PHARMACEUTICAL REVIEW

ARTEMISIA
Scientific names: Artemisia annua; Benflumetol*; Co-artemether*;
Coartem*; Riamet (Novartis)
Family: Asteraceae
Trade and other common names: Annual wormwood;
Arsumax (Sanofi Synthelabo); Arteether; Artemether;
Artemisinin; Artemisinine; Artesunate; Malarlife; Paluther (Rhone-
Poulenc); Qinghao; Qinghaosu; Quinghao; Sweet Annie; Sweet
wormwood; Thanh hao; Wormwood
Category: Antimalarial
Purported indications and other uses: Fever, multidrugresistant
malaria, parasitemia, leukemia, colon cancer, diarrhea,
schistosomiasis, worms, insect bites (topical)
Half-life: 10 hours
Note: Derivatives of Artemisia annua are often used in combination
with piperaquine, or mefloquine in treatment of malaria
*Note: Benflumetol, Coartem and Co-artemether are a combination
of artemether-lumefantrine
Reactions
Skin
Allergic reactions (sic)
(1987): Leng X+, Asian Pac J Allergy Immunol 5(2), 125 (to
pollen)
Pruritus
(2000): Bakshi R+, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 94(4), 419
(artemether-lumefantrine) (%)
Rash
(2000): Bakshi R+, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 94(4), 419
(artemether-lumefantrine) (%)
Other
Abdominal pain
(2000): Bakshi R+, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 94(4), 419
(artemether-lumefantrine)
Fever (rare)
Injection-site pain
(1994): Karbwang J+, Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health
25(4), 702
(1991): Bunnag D+, Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health
22(3), 380
Side effects (sic) (