In Mar. 29, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance to clinicians for the treatment of severe cases of malaria. The action followed discontinuation of quinidine, the only FDA-approved intravenous (IV) antimalarial drug in the U.S.

Instead, the U.S. followed suit with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for intravenous (IV) artesunate as a first-line treatment for severe malaria, starting April 1. Artesunate was neither commercially available nor U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in the U.S.. However the CDC made the drug available, supplied by the US Army Medical Research and Material Command, since 2007, in cases where quinidine was not available.