Quinine is used to treat malaria, although it is less commonly used today due to the development of other antimalarial drugs. It was originally derived from the bark of the cinchona tree Cinchona spp. which is native to South America. Quinine has historically been used to treat malaria and remains an important anti-malarial drug even today.

While quinine was traditionally extracted from cinchona bark, the increasing global demand for anti-malarial drugs has led to the development of synthetic or semi-synthetic methods for producing quinine. These methods are often more efficient and cost-effective for mass production, ensuring a stable supply of this vital anti-malarial medication.

The use of quinine for malaria treatment should be supervised and administered by healthcare professionals. Quinine has been replaced by other anti-malarial drugs like artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) due to concerns about quinine resistance and potential side effects, but it is still used in certain cases.

Image credit: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons