Max Planck Spin-off ArtemiFlow receives $5.8 million
Technology from basic research supports large-scale drug production
ArtemiFlow USA, a daughter company of ArtemiFlow and a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, develops continuous flow manufacturing technologies. Now the company receives 5,8 million USD in a partnership with Manus to boost the production of critical medicines. Artemiflow brings its expertise and proprietary technology for the efficient, selective and sustainable synthesis of drugs into this cooperation.
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 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.”
Expanded capabilities
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 and active pharmaceutical ingredients. ‘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 Max Planck 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.
Environmentally friendly process
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.