Semisynthetic artemisinin through fermentation
A partnership of the Institute for OneWorld Health, University of California, Berkeley, Amyris, and sanofi-aventis called the Artemisinin Project, is using synthetic biology and classic chemistry techniques to develop semisynthetic artemisinin.
Over the course of the grant, the project aims to create, optimize, scale-up, and industrialize microbial production systems to make bulk artemisinin available for incorporation into ACTs, at an affordable price with consistent high quality. A second source of artemisinin, in addition to plant-derived material, is needed to ensure global supply needs can be fulfilled due to current market volatility. If technical benchmarks are achieved, the project would progress to the commercial manufacturing phase, realizing integration of semisynthetic artemisinin into ACTs in the near future.
iOWH: Projected timeline for semisynthetic artemisinin
Q&A: Semisynthetic artemisinin