MP developing cost-effective varieties of malaria drug plant

First it was a global shortage of artemisnin, the raw material required to manufacture anti-falciparum malaria drugs, due to heavy demand. Then when other countries started producing it, China, till then the sole producer, cut prices.

Now Madhya Pradesh is developing new varieties of the artemisia plant, the only source of this key ingredient. Since 2001, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended countries adopt artemisnin-based combination therapies (ACTs) as the first-line treatment for malaria.

A state laboratory in the nearby town Obedullaganj had developed and supplied 10,000 tissue-culture artemisia plants for Ratlam lab of Ipca Labs Ltd, a well-known anti-malaria manufacturing company. Although, this tie-up could not last longer, shortage and falling price may lead the company in developing new varieties of artemisia plant that contain high quantity of artemisnin.

"Ipca has key strategy to step up cultivation of artemisia annua plants. We have grown it well in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat where it grows well with the help of farmers. After scaling up production of the plant, we have seen encouraging results," DC Jain, senior scientist, Ipca told Business Standard adding,

"However falling prices of artemisnin globally may affect the growing cultivation of artemisia."

The pharma industry sources say, "Soon after India started cultivating artemisia, prices have fallen from $500 a kg to $200 a kg."

The Centre, through its Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, and Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, had started developing high-yield varieties of artemisia during 1985 and the first plant was extracted in 1999. The contents of the plant vary with plant and place of cultivation.

"Initially the yield was very low at 0.01 per cent or 0.01 gm from one kg of leaves of artemisia. Later India developed Asha and Jeevan Raksha varieties of artemisia that yielded better results, but we have yet to grow cost effective variety," said Jain.

Now Ipca and other pharma companies are also looking into other applications of artemisnin. "Its derivatives may be developed as an anti-cancer drug," Jain added.

Also, the Madhya Pradesh Science and Technology Council (MAPCOST) laboratory in Obedullaganj is working on developing high-yielding artemisia varieties in various agro-climatic zones.

"We are planning to develop improved varieties of the plant through conventional cultivation, stemming and tissue culture techniques at Jabalpur, Ratlam, Amarkantak and Obedullaganj," NP Shukla, a scientist at MAPCOST said.

However, poor facilities and low funding may derail the project. After Ipca, which pulled out its tie-up with the lab due to low-key response, no private company has come forward to avail the facility of the lab.