Cheap anti-malaria drug underway

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Germany have found a cheap way to make anti-malaria drug in large quantities.

Synthesized with the help of oxygen and light, artemisinin can provide for about 225 million malaria patients in developing countries at an affordable price. 

To make the drug, scientists used waste materials of the isolation of artemisinin from sweet wormwoods as their starting substance. The substance can also be produced biotechnologically in yeast, which the scientists convert into the active ingredient. 

In the new study, researchers led by Peter H. Seeberger have discovered a very simple way of synthesizing the artemisinin molecule, which is identified as an anti-malaria drug from traditional Chinese medicine and has an extremely complex chemical structure. 

The production is done through Photochemistry method which is a simple and cost-effective way, explained director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam Peter H. Seeberger. 

The current treatment against malaria is not accessible to all of the more than 200 million people worldwide who are affected by the disease. 

As the price for the medication varies, many affected people especially in the developing world cannot afford the combination drug preparation, which consists mainly of artemisinin. 

The substance is isolated from sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) which grows mainly in China and Vietnam, and varies seasonally in its availability and consequently in its price. 

While over one million people die of malaria each year due to the cost of available treatments, the new drug will be a gift to the world of medicine and poor patients.