Malaria and cancer drugs from plant waste, light and air

Artemisinin, the basis of the currently most effective malaria drug, is derived from the annual wormwood plant (Artemisia annua). However, the purification is inefficient and expensive, so that half of the drug market is served with ineffective counterfeits. We have developed an environmentally friendly process whereby a waste product produced by the plant is rapidly and efficiently converted to the drug using light-activated oxygen. The very environmentally friendly, patented process is now being developed in the USA by the spin-off ArtemiFlow for industrial application.