ABSTRACT
Hydrangea febrifuga is a plant from which a sedative, an antimalarial, treatments for protozoal infections in chickens, cattle and sheep, and treatments for abnormal fibrosis, autoimmune diseases and cancers have all been made. In 1951, Kacker and Zaheer, in India, were researching new antimalarials derived from febrifugine and produced a compound called methaqualone. By 1955 its sedative and hypnotic effects were known and it was patented in the USA in 1962 and marketed as Quaalude. A synthetic halogenated derivative of febrifugine called halofuginone was synthesized in the late 1960s in the search for a less-toxic antimalarial drug by systematically altering parts of the febrifugine molecule. Halofuginone bromide was found to prevent and treat coccidiosis in the poultry industry and halofuginone lactate treated cryptosporidiosis in sheep and cattle, both being protozoal diseases that cause significant morbidity and mortality. Halofuginone has been found to inhibit a multiplicity of genes responsible for development of inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
