Artemisinin from either
sweet wormwood or the engineered yeast is then turned into the active antimalarial drug artesunate, and typically mixed with another antimalarial drug in what is called arteminsinin combination therapy, or ACT.
The dried aerial parts of both
sweet wormwood samples were cut into small pieces with an Osterizer.
Artemisinin, a compound based on qinghaosu, or
sweet wormwood, was first isolated in 1965 by Chinese military researchers.
Artemisinin, which the
sweet wormwood plant produces in its leaves, is an ancient malaria remedy.
Only artemisinin, derived from the
sweet wormwood plant, Artemisia annua, remains as an effective treatment, but it is expensive to produce and is frequently in short supply.
The natural compound artemisin comes from the
sweet wormwood plant and can fight drug-resistant malaria, but due to its small quantities and high price, millions of people cannot get access to this remedy.
The LCMSMS machine has enhanced the firm's capabilities to extract, purify and analyse the key malaria-treatment drug artemisinin, produced by a herb called Artemisia annua, commonly known as
sweet wormwood.
