Types of medicine
What Is an Antimalarial? Uses and Label Warnings
Antimalarial · say it: AN-tee-muh-LAIR-ee-ulAlso written: antimalarial medicine, anti-malaria drug, malaria tablets
Short answer
An antimalarial is a medicine used to prevent or treat malaria, and some are also used for conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
What it means
Antimalarials are medicines that kill or stop the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquito bites. They are taken either to treat malaria or, by travellers, to prevent it. Which one is used depends on the region, because malaria parasites in some areas resist certain drugs.
Label warnings vary by medicine: for example, eye checks with long-term hydroxychloroquine, heart rhythm (QT) effects with some, mental health effects with mefloquine, and hemolytic anemia in people with G6PD deficiency with primaquine and tafenoquine. Some antimalarials, especially hydroxychloroquine, are also used long-term for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Preventive tablets need to be started before travel and continued after return, as the label states. No antimalarial gives complete protection, so avoiding bites still matters.
Where you may see it
- Travel medicine prescriptions
- 'Warnings' sections of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, mefloquine and primaquine labels
- Rheumatology letters for lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
📄 How it looks on a report
Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial agent also indicated for lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.
🙅 What it does not mean
- Being prescribed an antimalarial does not mean you have malaria.
- Taking preventive tablets does not make malaria impossible.
- Different antimalarials are not interchangeable; the right one depends on where you travel and your health.
🗒️ Questions to ask your doctor
💊 Medicines whose labels mention “Antimalarial”
Plain-English explanations of each medicine, from its official FDA label.
- Artemether and Lumefantrine
an antimalarial medicine, which is a fixed combination of two blood-stage antimalarial ingredients (artemether, an artemisinin derivative, and lumefantrine)
- Hydroxychloroquine
an antimalarial and antirheumatic drug, which means it is used for malaria and for certain joint and immune conditions
- Primaquine
An antimalarial medicine of the 8-aminoquinoline group, as described in the label
🔗 Read more from trusted sources
- “Antimalarial” on MedlinePlus ↗
US National Library of Medicine
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