The similarity in parasite clearance times despite lower drug levels during rectal treatment suggests that initial oral doses may be unnecessarily high. The singular time dependency of artemisinin pharmacokinetics, attributed to autoinduction of drug elimination, has possible implications for combination chemotherapy. Decreasing artemisinin concentrations during treatment may partly explain recrudescences and increase the risk for resistance development.

Artemisinin did not alter CYP3A4 activity, whereas an increase in CYP2C19 activity was observed. The increased elimination of omeprazole in both poor and extensive CYP2C19 metabolizers suggests artemisinin induces both CYP2C19 and another enzyme.

These results indicate that artemisinin induces the N-demethylation of S-mephenytoin probably by an increased capacity of CYP2B6. The autoinduction phenomenon of artemisinin may, therefore, be attributed, at least in part, to induction of CYP2B6, because this is the isozyme primarily involved in its metabolism. In addition, artemisinin alters the disposition of R-mephenytoin by an unidentified isozyme.

The immediate efficacies of two oral dosage regimens of artemisinin were investigated in 77 male and female adult Vietnamese falciparum malaria patients randomly assigned to treatment with either 500 mg of artemisinin daily for 5 days (group A; n ‫؍‬ 40) or artemisinin at a dose of 100 mg per day for 2 days, with the dose increased to 250 mg per day for 2 consecutive days and with a final dose of 500 mg on the fifth day (group B; n ‫؍‬ 37). Parasitemia was monitored every 4 h. The average parasite clearance time was longer in group B than in group A (means ؎ standard deviations, 50 ؎ 23 and 34 ؎ 14 h, respectively; P < 0.01). Artemisinin concentrations in saliva samples obtained on days 1 and 5 were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. The average oral clearance, based on saliva drug concentrations in group B patients, was twofold higher than that in group A patients on day 1 (P < 0.01), with no differences in drug half-lives (P ‫؍‬ 0.40), indicating a saturable first-pass metabolism. Female patients had higher oral clearance values on day 1. Artemisinin's pharmacokinetic parameters were similar on day 5 in both groups, although a significant increase in oral clearance from day 1 to day 5 was evident. Thus, artemisinin exhibited both dose-and time-dependent pharmacokinetics. The escalating dose studied did not result in higher artemisinin concentrations toward the end of the treatment period.Artemisinin and its semisynthetic family of derivatives are the most potent antimalarials available for treatment of falciparum malaria infections (15,25,26). Artemisinin has a short elimination half-life, a rapid onset of action, no major side effects, and markedly induces of its own metabolic elimination, resulting in five-to sevenfold decreases in its concentrations over 5 to 7 days of administration in both malaria patients and healthy subjects (1, 3-5). A major drawback with artemisinin and its derivatives is the high recrudescence rates within 2 to 3 weeks after monotherapy (14,17). It has proved difficult in field studies to determine whether the relapsed malaria episodes are due to new infections or the persistence of the previous one. However, true recrudescence has been described in patients kept in vector-free environments for longer periods of time (12,13,16). There is also evidence of true recrudescence, as determined by a PCR technique with patients treated with a combination of artemether and benflumetol (10) as well as artesunate alone (18). It has been suggested that the occurrence of recrudescence may partly be due to the decreasing artemisinin concentrations toward the end of treatment (4). Thus, the time-dependent kinetics of the drug can be of importance in dosing suggestions.Reports concerning dose-response studies with the artemisinin endoperoxides are lacking. Rectal administration of artemisinin was shown to have efficacy comparable to that of oral treatment in terms of the parasite clearance time (PCT) and the fever subsidence time (FST) in patients with uncomplicated falciparum mal...

The aim of this study was to investigate which principal human cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes are affected by artemisinin and to what degree the artemisinin derivatives differ with respect to their respective induction and inhibition capacity. Seventy-five healthy adults were randomized to receive therapeutic oral doses of artemisinin, dihydroartemisinin, arteether, artemether or artesunate for 5 days (days 1-5). A six-drug cocktail consisting of caffeine, coumarin, mephenytoin, metoprolol, chlorzoxazone and midazolam was administered orally on days -6, 1, 5 and 10 to assess the activities of CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A, respectively. Four-hour plasma concentrations of parent drugs and corresponding metabolites and 7-hydroxycoumarin urine concentrations were quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The 1-hydroxymidazolam/midazolam 4-h plasma concentration ratio (CYP3A) was increased on day 5 by artemisinin [2.66-fold (98.75% CI: 2.10-3.36)], artemether [1.54 (1.14-2.09)] and dihydroartemisinin [1.25 (1.06-1.47)] compared with day -6. The S-4'-hydroxymephenytoin/S-mephenytoin ratio (CYP2C19) was increased on day 5 by artemisinin [1.69 (1.47-1.94)] and arteether [1.33 (1.15-1.55)] compared with day -6. The paraxanthine/caffeine ratio (CYP1A2) was decreased on day 1 after administration of artemisinin [0.27 (0.18-0.39)], arteether [0.70 (0.55-0.89)] and dihydroartemisinin [0.73 (0.59-0.90)] compared with day -6. The alpha-hydroxymetoprolol/metoprolol ratio (CYP2D6) was lower on day 1 compared with day -6 in the artemisinin [0.82 (0.70-0.96)] and dihydroartemisinin [0.83 (0.71-0.96)] groups, respectively. In the artemisinin-treated subjects this decrease was followed by a 1.34-fold (1.14-1.58) increase from day 1 to day 5. These results show that intake of artemisinin antimalarials affect the activities of several principal human drug metabolizing CYP450 enzymes. Even though not significant in all treatment groups, changes in the individual metrics were of the same direction for all the artemisinin drugs, suggesting a class effect that needs to be considered in the development of new artemisinin derivatives and combination treatments of malaria.

Piperaquine pharmacokinetics after repeated oral doses were characterized by multiple concentration peaks and multiphasic disposition, resulting in a long terminal half-life. Sustained exposure to the drug after treatment should be taken into account when designing future clinical studies, e.g. duration of follow-up, and may also drive resistance development in areas of high malaria transmission.

Capillary plasma or saliva may replace venous plasma in pharmacokinetic investigations of artemisinin. Due to the ease of collection and handling, saliva sampling can be a simple approach in field studies of artemisinin, although the lower saliva concentrations require more sensitive analytical methods.

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