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152 The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 152 Quinine and Quin-Ghao, Natureûs Two Most Important Anti-malarial Drugs drugs are still considered ùorphan drugsû, because of their limited commercial value, since malaria confines to poor and underprivileged tropical regions. At present less than 10 different antimalarial drugs are commercially available, many of which are not yet generally accessible. Of the current antimalarial drugs, quinine and Quin-Ghao are the two most important natural drugs. As evidenced from early treatment efficacy records, it took less than 10 years for quinine to be adopted for use in Europe in the 17 th century. In contrast, it took over a thousand years until the 20 th century for Quin-Ghao to become known and accepted outside China. These divergent timelines of both drugs, quinine from the West and Quing-Ghao from the East, partly reflects differences in the scientific heritage between these two civilizations i.e. encouragement of general publication of knowledge in the West versus a culture of confidentiality and personal ownership in the East. The Discovery of Quinine Quinine is an alkaloid found in the bark of the cinchona tree and has been used for more than 350 years to treat ùrecurrent feverû (malaria) (Kakkilaya 2006; Table 1). Legends suggest the earliest use of the bark by the native Peruvian Indian population. It was referred to as çJesuitûs bark,é çcardinalûs bark,é and çsacred barké after Jesuit missionariesû working in the Andes mountains in western South America around 1630. Its first introduction to Europe in 1638 (Pukrittayakamee & Looareesuwan, 2003) is said to be linked to the Countess of Chinchon (Figure 2), who had visited Peru and was there cured from malaria by the Peruvian bark (Schreiber & Mathys, 1987). After 1950s, cinchona became widely known in Europe following successful treatment for malaria of several royals including, Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England. The first scientific publication on cinchona was by the French jezuite Honoré Fabri, under the pseudonum of Antimus Conygius in 1655 in Italy. In 1742 Swedish botanist Carol Linnaeus (1707-1778) called the tree çCinchona“ bark in honor of the Countess of Chinchon. At the end of the 17 th Century, the use of cinchona spread throughout Europe and gained wide acceptance in the medical community. In 1820 French chemist Pierre-Joseph Pelletier (1788-1842) and Joseph-Bienaime Caventou (1795-1877) isolated quinine from cinchona bark. The drugs became widely known to the world in the 18 th -19 th century. Quinine was also used as the main ingredient in several early tonic drinks and is was included in army medical kits during the Second 150-159_mac9 4/26/12, 9:20 PM 152