New Delhi, Dec. 11 -- India's drug regulator has raised an urgent red flag over a threat to the country's most effective malaria medicines, directing all state drug controllers to immediately trace and stop the manufacturing and sale of oral single-drug artemisinin formulations, the active ingredient used in the country's most potent malaria drugs, two officials said, citing an 8 December order seen by Mint.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi noted that despite a nationwide ban since 2009, some producers are still suspected of selling these formulations in violation of global protocols and advisories of the World Health Organization (WHO). The issue is pertinent because using artemisinin alone accele...