Piperaquine (PQ)

Piperaquine is an antimalarial drug. Piperaquine is characterized by slow absorption and a long biological half-life, making it a good partner drug with artemisinin derivatives which are fast acting but have a short biological half-life. Piperaquine (PQ) is an important partner drug in antimalarial combination treatments, but the long half-life of PQ raises concerns about drug resistance. Viable parasites passaged into the naïve hosts were generally resistant to PQ when they were exposed to the drug for a second time. PQ was found to have a substantial antimalarial effect in this model, and the effect appears to be sufficient for a host immunological response to be established, resulting in the long-term survival of P. berghei-infected mice. Piperaquine (PQ) is a bisquinoline antimalarial drug used in contemporary artemisinin combination treatment (ACT) strategies as a partner to dihydroartemisinin (1, 4).