ArtemiFlow is a

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

Potsdam-based company founded in 2012 by

Peter Seeberger Peter H. Seeberger (born 1966, in Nuremberg) is a German chemist. Biography Seeberger studied chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1995 as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Colora ...

. The company produces and sells drugs containing the active ingredient

artemisinin Artemisinin () and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum''. It was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her ...

from ''Artemisia annua'' and its derivatives to fight

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

and other diseases. As of 2019, Adam Maust is the CEO of ArtemiFlow.

Production process

ArtemiFlow is one of Peter Seeberger's companies for the production of low-cost medicines. With his team, he developed a process to produce artemisinin in large quantities in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way, especially to meet the needs of developing countries. This was an innovative method as an alternative to Sanofi's genetic engineering one. Artemiflow developed a reactor for novel artemisinin production and developed higher-yielding plants in Kentucky in collaboration with the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

Plants with higher yields.

The new chemical production process is the first example of how not only the starting materials for making a drug or natural product are derived from plants. The catalyst, the tool that drives the reaction, also comes directly from plants.

For developing the new process, Seeberger, Kerry Gilmore, and Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern were awarded the 2021 Science Prize for "Affordable Green Chemistry" by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Development

Initial difficulties were the large-scale implementation of the manufacturing process, the cultivation of annual mugwort in Vietnam and the financing of the

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

. According to the first CEO

Dirk Pohlmann Dirk Pohlmann (born August 11, 1959) is a German journalist, author, screenwriter, director and producer of about 25 historical documentaries for German public media Arte, ARD and ZDF. He held positions of leadership in CargoLifter World and ...

, the company was hoping for support from the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

. The latter supported competing products from the

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synth� ...

company made from genetically modified yeast. According to Pohlmann's account, the foundation's monopoly position in funding the international fight against malaria made it difficult for ArtemiFlow to gain a foothold. In addition, simply announcing synthetic production dropped prices for producers, so less artemisinin was expected to be produced.

Partnerships

ArtemiFlow partnered with the University of Kentucky in 2018. Researchers at the university grew Artemisia annua, the plant that fights malaria, as part of the partnership. In 2020, the university and Artemiflow partnered on a clinical study to test the plant and its anti-cancer effects.

COVID-19

Production on the potential use of artemisin against

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

was controversial, in part because of possible conflicts of interest owing to Seeberger's leadership of ArtemiLife. The critical article in the SZ was answered by an article in the German magazine ''Focus''.{{Cite web, title=Pflanzenextrakte aus Beifuß sollen vor Covid-19 schützen – das steckt dahinter, url=https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/news/struppiges-corona-mittel-pflanzenextrakte-aus-beifuss-sollen-vor-covid-19-schuetzen-das-steckt-dahinter_id_12151877.html, access-date=2021-11-15, website=FOCUS Online, language=de

References

External links

Official website
Biotechnology companies Biotechnology companies by country Biotechnology companies established in 2012 Malaria