Today I read something that instills a little more hope and faith in our current society. Research in using genetically altered microbes to produce drugs quicker and cheaper has yielded a very affordable production method for a highly effective malaria cure. This cure, prior to this research, has been unaffordable for the millions of poor people around the world that catch and die from malaria each year. This new production method will create it for pennies per dose and make the cure affordable to all for the first time. That is not the surprise. The surprising part is the researcher that invented it set it so that no one can profit from it, yet it will still be mass produced and sold at cost.
The researcher is Jay Keasling, a chemical engineer and a self-described idealist. His creation is genetically modified yeast microbes that turn sugars into artemisinin far quicker and more affordably than the previously used method, which involves extracting it from the sweet-wormwood plant. The drug, artemisinin, has a 90% cure rate of malaria. Usually when such a great new advancement happens in pharmaceuticals occurs the technology is immediately patented and then highly guarded by the creators of it. However, this situation is different because Mr. Keasling patented the drug and then worked with his university and the big pharmaceutical companies to make sure that no one, not even him, could profit from it. He wants and has ensured that his new production method will be used to produce the drug at a low cost and will be sold at cost to the poor.
I find it to be a relief to be able to occasionally write about altruistic men and women that use their talents to help others.
If you would like to read more, just follow this link: http://www.newsweek.com/id/176340
-Pjerky
Tags: Altruism, artemisinin, bio-engineering, Humanity, malaria, Microbiology, Pharmaceuticals, research, yeast
