E-DRUG: Chinese spice becomes key player in bird-flu battle (2)
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[crossposted from Druginfo with thanks; WB]
Hi all
The manufacturing process for oseltamivir continues to provide material for media coverage. This NYT story - here as "fair use" - indicates that increasing production of the entiviral will not necessarily be hampered by limited stocks of a natural starting material (star anise), as alternative source of shikimic acid have already been developed. By contrast, artemesinin combination therapy for malaria faces a very real capacity constraint, in that commercial production of Artemisia annua is limited to China at present, while a synthetic route is investigated by the Institute for One World Health (in collaboration with the California Institute of Quantitative Biomedical Research and Amyris Biotechnologies, using E. coli - a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the tune of US $42.6 - see http://www.oneworldhealth.org/diseases/malaria.php).
regards
Andy
Andy Gray MSc(Pharm) FPS
* Senior Lecturer
Dept of Therapeutics and Medicines Management
* Study Pharmacist
Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research
in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine
University of KwaZulu-Natal
PBag 7 Congella 4013
South Africa
Tel: +27-31-2604334/4298 Fax: +27-31-2604338
email: graya1@ukzn.ac.za or andy@gray.za.net