Max Planck Spin-off ArtemiFlow receives $5.8 million in partnership
ArtemiFlow collaborates with Manus to work on the production of critical medicines including malaria drugs
ArtemiFlow is collaborating with Manus, the world's leading bioalternatives scale-up platform, which has recently acquired 32.4 million USD in government funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Defense Production Act Title III Program. Within this partnership ArtemiFlow receives 5.8 million USD and will help to establish a key infrastructure for the production of medicines from natural products through biomanufacturing and semi-synthesis as well as for the onshore production of critical medicines and advance the bioeconomy in the US. By combining Manus’ bioalternatives scale-up platform for accessing natural products with ArtemiFlow’s proprietary flow chemistry technology, Manus will be able to produce these essential medicines at scale.
“We are thrilled to leverage our versatile, modular flow technology to convert Manus’ dihydroartemisinic acid bioalternative into artemisinin,” says Adam Maust, Chief Executive Officer of ArtemiFlow USA. “Through this partnership, we are creating a scalable and economical alternative manufacturing route to traditional agricultural extraction, helping to stabilize the supply and expand the availability of this critical medicine.”
The infrastructure for this production will be co-located with Manus’ Augusta, Georgia, large-scale BioFacility, which will be expanded to include unique cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) capabilities for producing pharmaceutical key starting materials (KSMs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
‘We are delighted with the collaboration between Manus and ArtemiFlow. The partnership shows that the basic research conducted at the Max Planck Institutes contributes significantly to society and in this case by using MPG technologies supports the creation of medicines on a large scale,’ emphasises Ulrich Mahr, member of the general management at Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society.
The partnership between Manus and ArtemiFlow represents a significant step towards creating a more independent healthcare system to strengthen local production of essential medicines and reduce dependence on foreign sources.
Research Background
Artemisinin, the basis of the currently most effective malaria drug, is extracted from the annual wormwood plant (Artemisia annua). However, purification is inefficient and expensive, so that half of the drug market is supplied with ineffective counterfeits. A research team around Peter H. Seeberger at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces has developed an environmentally friendly process that efficiently converts a waste product produced by the plant into a drug with the help of light-activated oxygen. This very environmentally friendly, patented process is being developed for industrial application in the USA by the spin-off ArtemiFlow.
About ArtemiFlow
ArtemiFlow USA, a daughter company of ArtemiFlow, develops continuous flow manufacturing technologies, like those licensed exclusively from the Max-Planck Society for the efficient, selective and sustainable synthesis of e.g., the malaria drug artemisinin. Established in 2018, the company also produces materials for its sister companies ArtemiLife (human health, cancer) and ArtemiPet (animal health).
More information: www.artemiflow.com
About Manus
Manus is the world’s leading bioalternatives scale-up platform and works with companies across industries and value chains to accelerate the transition to bioalternatives – better performing and more sustainable versions of complex molecules traditionally sourced from plants, animals, or fossil fuels. The platform is proven to work across scales, bridging the Valley of Death between lab and manufacturing more efficiently and more reliably to deliver the benefits of synthetic biology, today.
More information: www.manusbio.com
About the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
Tiny apatite crystals in bones, vesicles formed out of membranes, pores in membranes for fuel cells and microcapsules as vehicles for medical drugs – all these are structures that are larger than an atom, yet too small to be seen with the naked eye. These are the kinds of nanostructures and microstructures that scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces examine and create. The structures are often colloids – tiny particles in a different medium – or interfaces between two materials. Many of the structures can be found in nature. The scientists at the Potsdam-based Institute endeavour to understand how they are composed and how they work in order to imitate their behaviour in new materials or in vaccines, for example. Understanding the function of these structures can also help to identify the causes of certain diseases that occur when the folding of membranes or the transport of materials in cells fails to work properly.
More information: www.mpikg.mpg.de
About Max Planck Innovation
Max Planck Innovation is responsible for the technology transfer of the Max Planck Society and, as such, the link between industry and basic research. With our interdisciplinary team we advise and support scientists of the Max Planck Institutes in evaluating their inventions, filing patents and founding companies. We offer industry a unique access to the innovations of the Max Planck Institutes. Thus, we perform an important task: the transfer of basic research results into products, which contribute to the economic and social progress.
More information under: www.max-planck-innovation.com
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