The similarity in parasite clearance times despite lower drug levels during rectal treatment suggests that initial oral doses may be unnecessarily high. The singular time dependency of artemisinin pharmacokinetics, attributed to autoinduction of drug elimination, has possible implications for combination chemotherapy. Decreasing artemisinin concentrations during treatment may partly explain recrudescences and increase the risk for resistance development.

Artemisinin did not alter CYP3A4 activity, whereas an increase in CYP2C19 activity was observed. The increased elimination of omeprazole in both poor and extensive CYP2C19 metabolizers suggests artemisinin induces both CYP2C19 and another enzyme.