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The rapid spread of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum has forced clinicians in many regions of the world to abandon classical therapy with chloroquine (CQ) or pyrimethamine, in favour of other drugs that are less well tolerated and, importantly, more expensive. In Cambodia, a mefloquine-artesunate combination is currently used as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. Most new drugs arise from the identification of new therapeutic targets or metabolic pathways. The antimalarial activity of CQ can be considerably increased by binding the drug to an iron nucleus and so generating ferrochloroquine.