Scientists have genetically modified yeast cells to produce an antimalarial drug so powerful that it is regarded as the last line of defense against the disease.
Artemisinin is usually extracted from the delicate sweet wormwood plant, but in recent years, the malaria parasite has developed resistance to almost every other drug on the market, so demand for artemisinin has soared, putting pressure on growers and raising prices.
Large-scale production has been hampered because sweet wormwood takes a year to grow and thrives only in well-controlled climatic conditions.
But according to research published in the journal Nature on Thursday, a chemical cousin of artemisinin can be produced on a mass scale using vats of genetically modified yeast. The chemical can then easily be converted into the drug.
Jay Keasling, who is leading the research at the University of California, Berkeley, said using microbes allows the drug to be manufactured all year round and by scaling up production, a course of treatment would be made at a fraction of the current cost.
"Therapies could be offered significantly below current prices. In addition to cost savings, this bioprocess should not be subject to factors such as weather or political climates that may affect plant cultivation," Keasling said.
The researchers took a type of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and modified its cells so they started producing a chemical called artemisininic acid. Because the drug is pushed out of the cells it makes it easy to harvest and purify into a usable drug, Keasling said.
Malaria is one of the world's most devastating diseases, causing illness in an estimated 300 million to 500 million people each year and killing more than a million.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave US$43 million to the researchers to develop low-cost drugs to treat malaria using genetically modified microbes.
"It's a big technological advance," said Professor Sanjeev Krishna, a parasitologist at St George's Hospital, London.
"Some of the drugs that are more expensive work some of the time, but we've realized that to really get value for money from them, you have to use them in combination with artemisins, and that increases demand for the drug," he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in