IT'S a triumph for malaria treatment, but bad news for farmers. A synthetic version of the world's most effective antimalarial drug, artemisinin, can now be made in just three weeks rather than 18 months. The advance could help to stem the rise of drug-resistant malaria.
Amyris, a California-based biotech company, has developed a way to get yeast to pump out artemisinic acid, the precursor to artemisinin, rather than extracting it from the sweet wormwood plant (Nature, doi.org/k72). Drug firm Sanofi then turns the acid into a drug.
Despite artemisinin's success, the malaria parasite is developing resistance to it. One way to delay resistance is by offering artemisinins combined with other drugs. However, the World Health Organization says 25 countries still allow artemisinin to be sold on its own, with 28 companies manufacturing it.
Jay Keasling, co-founder of Amyris says he hopes that the synthetic approach will lower prices, nudging out competitors selling monotherapy artemisinin. Farmers who sell sweet wormwood to manufacturers will be encouraged to switch to food crops, he says.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Make it fast"
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