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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The rise to prominence of Artemisia annua L.: the transformation of a Chinese plant to a global pharmaceutical
Author:Meier zu Biesen, CarolineISNI
Year:2010
Periodical:African Sociological Review (ISSN 1027-4332)
Volume:14
Issue:2
Pages:24-46
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:medicinal plants
medicinal drugs
malaria
pharmaceutical industry
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24487593
Abstract:This paper focuses on the transformation of a recently promoted medicinal plant named Artemisia annua L. For over 2000 years, the Chinese have used A. annua as a herbal tea preparation against malaria. Pharmacological studies led to the isolation of artemisinin as the principal anti-malarial compound. Since 2001, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended artemisinin-based combined therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of malaria. Novartis is the leading actor to extract the compound in tablet form. In the 1990s, A. annua was introduced to Tanzania. Beside the local plant-based promotion of Artemisia-tea as an efficient, inexpensive natural practice to treat malaria, Tanzania hosts influential actors who seek to commercialize the plant. By following the biography of the Chinese medicinal plant, its global transfer, production, marketing, distribution, consumption, and its transformation into a highly demanded commodity, the author reveals the dialectics and reciprocities between different actors and their relation to existing powerful reference systems (such as the WHO and the pharmaceutical industry). Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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