Drug susceptibility testing methods of antimalarial agents.

Resistance to almost all available antimalarial agents, particularly for , is an important issue throughout all malaria endemic countries. Recently, also showed resistance to chloroquine in some part of the World. Monitoring efficacy of used antimalarial drugs plays an important role to determine the emergence of resistant power by the prevailing parasite population of a geographical area if any. There are four different methods for antimalarial drug efficacy study. therapeutic efficacy study remains the gold standard and provides primary data for formulating antimalarial drug policy by the National Malaria Control Programmes. Several assay methods for assessing antimalarial drug susceptibility have been developed during past few decades. These assay methods are simple, easier to handle and allow early detection of drug-resistant parasites and also for the screening of different newly developed agents for their antimalarial activity. Approaches of different assay methods for testing the susceptibility of antimalarial agents and their limitations are discussed in this review article.