New research project to make anti-malarial drugs more affordable in Third World countries

Dr Geoff Brown, from the University of Reading's Department of Chemistry, is beginning a £400,000 project that could prove vital for the developing world in its ongoing fight against malaria. His research aims to make anti-malarial drugs more affordable in Third World countries where more than 1.5 million people die of the disease every year.

Facilitating his research is the University's new Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF), a £4.5 million centre for chemical analysis which includes four state-of-the-art Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometers, allowing Dr Brown to perform the detailed analysis required for his research.

The traditional forms of drugs used to treat malaria infection were quinine-based, but malaria has now become resistant to such drugs in many parts of the World. Using the CAF's facilities, Dr Brown aims to be the first researcher to fully understand the way in which the Chinese Wormwood plant produces artemisinin, an antimalarial drug effective against quinine-resistant malaria. This fundamental research will help pharmaceutical companies to mass-produce artemisinin in a more cost effective way.

Dr Brown explained: "Artemisinin is effective at treating malaria but is relatively expensive to produce, making it unaffordable to many in developing countries who need it most. Trying to understand how the Chinese wormwood plant assembles artemisinin at the molecular level is a difficult challenge, which has never been fully resolved, even after almost 30 years of research. The state-of-the art instrumentation in CAF is now helping us to finally solve this difficult problem, providing basic knowledge which can be translated into cheaper and more reliable methods for the production of artemisinin in the future."

Dr Brown continued: "Although malaria is currently a Third World disease, restricted to Tropical/sub-Tropical regions, as temperatures rise because of global warming, it could once again appear in many parts of the Developed World."

One option for producing a cheaper version of the drug is through biofermentation, something used more and more commonly in drug manufacture. This uses a microorganism, such as yeast, to produce large quantities of a drug during the fermentation process (much like the way in which alcohol is produced during the fermentation of beer).

In order to do this cheaply and reliably for artemisinin, scientists need to fully understand the way in which the Chinese Wormwood plant produces artemisinin in a step-by-step process, known as a biosynthetic pathway. Dr Brown aims to be the first to describe every chemical step in this pathway.

The CAF, opened by President of the Royal Society of Chemistry Professor David Garner, will also underpin innovative research in, among others, archaeology, agriculture, soil science and engineering. Medically related topics form a significant portion of the work using the CAF facilities, embracing fields such as pharmaceutics, drug synthesis and nutrition.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Leveraging the power of automation to boost research