14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists are working on a new and cheaper method to synthesize a very effective drug against malaria. Under the name of Artemisinin, the drug is currently expensive to manufacture and is refused to many people in the developing world.
The drug is used for treating multi-drug resistant strains of Plasmodium species, proving to be almost 100% effective, and comes from a plant called Artemisia annua. Natural supplies of the plant are limited and also synthesizing the drug is a very expensive process.
Researchers have now created a modified form of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, capable of producing large quantities of artemisinic acid, the main component for the anti-malaria drug - Artemisinin. Malaria infects about 500 million people a year, killing more than 1.5 million, especially in Africa and Asia.
The disease is caused by the one-celled parasite carried by mosquitoes called plasmodium, infecting mainly young children. The team of scientists from the University of California and Berkeley, is hoping to reduce the costs by stimulating bacteria to produce artemisinic acid.
This bacteria grows faster than yeast, offering a more productive source for the acid. Doctors already managed to create a strain of yeast that can churn out large quantities of artemisinic acid, which, after a few chemical processes, can be administered to patients suffering from malaria.
"While we have made a lot of progress in the past two years, there still are a lot of unknowns. Now that we've got all the parts, I feel it's just a matter of time before we have a microbe ready for scale-up to production," said lead researcher - Professor Jay Keasling.