Artemisia annua

Controlled study

There is so far one randomized controlled trial on artesunate in cancer treatment published. In this open label 2-arm study, at least 2 cycles of chemotherapy (vinorelbine/cisplatin) were applied with or without artesunate in 120 Chinese patients with unresectable non-small lung cancer 13. The authors found no significant differences between the groups in mean survival time, 1-year survival rate and quality of life. However, the artesunate group had a significant higher disease control rate (88,2% vs. 72,7% [complete + partial response + stable disease]) and a significant longer time to progression (24 vs 20 weeks). There were no reports of major toxicities of artesunate. As there was an imbalance in the disease stages between the groups (more stage IV diseases in the control group) and an unblinded outcome assessment, the risk of bias in this study is high.

Published case reports

There are two case reports published with artesunate, both reporting stabilization or regression of tumor growth during treatment with additional artesunate, while the tumor was progressing under standard treatment alone 14-15. No serious side effects were reported. In a third report of a patient who received artemether, a reduction in density of the tumor and improved quality of life was observed 16.

Preclinical studies

Animal studies suggested that artemisinin and related compounds inhibit tumor growth and metastasis and prolong survival upon administration of 10-100mg/(kg.day) in xenografts of a wide variety of cancer cells. The dosages applied are much higher than those used in anti-malaria treatment. Intermittent higher dosage therapy appears to be more efficient than daily dosing.