Artemisinin is excellent, but its days may be numbered.
(1) Lasker Honors for a Lifesaver. New York Times, Sept 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13lasker.html
(World Health Organization recommends this combination therapy [artimisinin combination therapy, ACT] as the first-line treatment against the disease, replacing the previous standard treatment, chloroquine, which was losing effectiveness as malaria parasites developed resistance)
(2) Unfortunately, resistance to artimisinin has developed in malaria parasites, in the Thai-Cambodia border. Resistance to chloroquine also first developed in the area, and spread widely to Africa.
(a) News release: Drug Resistance Could Set Back Malaria Control Success; US$ 22.5 million grant from Gates Foundation to contain malaria parasites resistant to artemisinin. World Health Organization (WHO), Feb 25, 2009.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2009/malaria_drug_resistance_20090225/en/index.html
("Appropriate treatment with ACTs succeeds in more than 90% of cases")
(b) Artemisinin-Resistance Containment Project. WHO, undated.
http://www.who.int/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/arcp/en/index.html
(3) The site or mechanism of artemisinin is not clear.