Developing an alternative UK industrial crop Artemisia annua, for the extraction of artemisinin to treat multi-drug resistant malaria.

Over the last 5 years, new Artemisia annua lines have been produced with increased artemisinin levels, where the artemisinin yield (expressed as percentage artemisinin, by weight in harvested dried leaves) increased from 1.2-2.2%. In addition to these genetic improvements, agronomic techniques that improve the overall yield of artemisinin and increase seed yield have also been achieved. Techniques for accurate measurement of artemisinin have been considered and the presence of additional compounds, which could impact on accurate measurement of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. The genetic and agronomic improvements reported here suggest that artemisinin yields in commercial production could be raised to 60 kg ha-1, a figure that compares well with the 2010 industry average of 24 kg ha-1.