Synthetic Biology Can Help Extend Anti-malaria Drug Effectiveness
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 09:42
in Health & Medicine
Synthetic biology can not only provide a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, the most powerful anti-malaria drug in use today, but can also help extend the drug's effectiveness. Bundling microbial-based artemisinin as part of an anti-malarial drug "cocktail" rather than selling it as a monotherapy should delay or even prevent malaria parasites from developing resistance.