The malaria drug artemisinin is derived from the plant sweet wormwood FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images A medicine already used to treat could also work as a treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In a small trial of 19 women with PCOS, the widely used drug artemisinin improved the regularity of their menstrual cycles and lowered their testosterone, which is often too high in people with the condition.
, it involves imbalances in several hormones, including too much testosterone being made by the ovaries. This can lead to irregular menstrual cycles and infertility, as well as acne and excess body hair, among other symptoms. Advertisement Read more Those affected also tend to be less sensitive to the sugar-regulating hormone insulin, which leads to weight gain, worsening the hormone imbalances.
At the moment, people with PCOS have their symptoms treated individually. For instance, they might have laser treatments to remove body hair or take the contraceptive pill to regularise menstruation. Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday.
While investigating the effects of different drugs on fat cells in mice, at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, noticed that artemisinin reduced symptoms in mice with a condition similar to PCOS. His team later gave artemisinin to 19 women with PCOS for three months. It lowered levels of testosterone in all of them, and most also saw a decrease in another substance called anti-Müllerian hormone, .
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