An herbal-tea remedy for malaria contains a component that may form the basis of a novel drug against the disease, tests in mice show. The compound, called tazopsine, is derived from the bark of a tree (Strychnopsis thouarsii) found in Madagascar’s eastern rain forest.
In lab dishes, tazopsine killed the two common malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium yoelii.
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