Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists have come up with a novel technology for manufacturing an anti-malaria drug in tobacco.
Professor Alexander Vainstein -- from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the HU-- and his graduate student Moran Farhi discovered a method that allows for the production of artemisinin - the herb used in cancer and malaria drugs -- in a heterologous plant system, such as tobacco.
Medical communities around the globe agree that a key intervention to control malaria is prompt and effective treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapies. But low-cost artemisinin-based drugs are lacking because of the high cost of obtaining the natural or chemically synthesized drug.
