Antimalarial drugs from plant. A selection of antimalarial drugs extracted from the plant Artemisia annua. Malaria remains prevalent in the tropics despite the World Health Organisation's attempts to eradicate the disease. A key problem is the evolution of new strains of the malaria parasite (Plasmodium sp.) that are resistant to current drugs like chloroquine. The search for new antimalarial drugs involves screening biochemical compounds isolated from plants known to have antimalarial properties, such as Artemisia annua. The drugs seen here, artemisinin and artesunate, are the result of such research.