Quinacrine, the main antimalarial drug during World War II, has had a chequered history that included the successful repurposing as an intrapleural sclerosant for the treatment of malignant pleural effusions, a non-surgical method of female sterilisation, and the use as an immunomodulatory drug in lupus erythematosus. While no longer used for these former indications, quinacrine (re)emerged as an indispensable second-line drug for the treatment of nitroimidazole-refractory Giardia duodenalis infections, and thus depicts an indispensable "orphan drug".
Keywords: Atabrin; Giardiasis; Mepacrine; Orphan drug; Quinacrine.
Copyright 2023 Andreas Neumayr, Esther Kuenzli. License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.