Artemisinin pact for OneWorld/Sanofi/Amyris

The Institute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company, together with fellow USA-based synthetic biology firm Amyris Biotechnologies and French drug major Sanofi-Aventis have entered into an agreement for the development of semisynthetic artemisinin, a key ingredient in first-line malaria treatments, building on technology originated by Jay Keasling at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

This collaboration aims to create a complementary source of non-seasonal, high-quality and affordable artemisinin to supplement the current botanical supply, thereby enabling millions of people infected with malaria to gain consistent access to lower-cost, life-saving artemisinin-based combination therapies . Under the terms of the agreement, the three firms will work jointly to develop and design pilot and commercial-scale manufacturing processes, with the goal of introducing low-cost, semisynthetic artemisinin into the supply chain and ACTs in 2010.

"Sanofi-Aventis' historic commitment to the fight against malaria, its technical capabilities and the track record of its Access to Medicines program make them an ideal partner for this next phase of product development," said Nina Grove, OneWorld Health's vice president for commercial planning and strategy.