Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Aug 9:11:270.
doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-11-270.

Review of pyronaridine anti-malarial properties and product characteristics

Simon L Croft  1 , Stephan Duparc, Sarah J Arbe-Barnes, J Carl Craft, Chang-Sik Shin, Lawrence Fleckenstein, Isabelle Borghini-Fuhrer, Han-Jong Rim
Affiliations

Review of pyronaridine anti-malarial properties and product characteristics

Simon L Croft et al. Malar J. .

Abstract

Pyronaridine was synthesized in 1970 at the Institute of Chinese Parasitic Disease and has been used in China for over 30 years for the treatment of malaria. Pyronaridine has high potency against Plasmodium falciparum, including chloroquine-resistant strains. Studies in various animal models have shown pyronaridine to be effective against strains resistant to other anti-malarials, including chloroquine. Resistance to pyronaridine appears to emerge slowly and is further retarded when pyronaridine is used in combination with other anti-malarials, in particular, artesunate. Pyronaridine toxicity is generally less than that of chloroquine, though evidence of embryotoxicity in rodents suggests use with caution in pregnancy. Clinical pharmacokinetic data for pyronaridine indicates an elimination T1/2 of 13.2 and 9.6 days, respectively, in adults and children with acute uncomplicated falciparum and vivax malaria in artemisinin-combination therapy. Clinical data for mono or combined pyronaridine therapy show excellent anti-malarial effects against P. falciparum and studies of combination therapy also show promise against Plasmodium vivax. Pyronaridine has been developed as a fixed dose combination therapy, in a 3:1 ratio, with artesunate for the treatment of acute uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria and blood stage P. vivax malaria with the name of Pyramax® and has received Positive Opinion by European Medicines Agency under the Article 58 procedure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparative activity of pyronaridine against chloroquine-susceptible and -resistant P. falciparum field isolates from SE Asia and Africa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zheng XY, Chen C, Gao FH, Zhu PE, Guo HZ. Synthesis of new antimalarial drug pyronaridine and its analogues (author's transl) Yao Xue Xue Bao. 1982;17:118–125. - PubMed
    1. Zheng XY, Xia Y, Gao FH, Chen C. Synthesis of 7351, a new antimalarial drug (author's transl) Yao Xue Xue Bao. 1979;14:736–737. - PubMed
    1. Chang C, Lin-Hua T, Jantanavivat C. Studies on a new antimalarial compound: pyronaridine. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1992;86:7–10. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(92)90414-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen YC, Fleckenstein L. Improved assay method for the determination of pyronaridine in plasma and whole blood by high-performance liquid chromatography for application to clinical pharmacokinetic studies. J Chromatogr B Biomed Sci Appl. 2001;752:39–46. doi: 10.1016/S0378-4347(00)00512-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shao BR. A review of antimalarial drug pyronaridine. Chin Med J (Engl) 1990;103:428–434. - PubMed

MeSH terms