Innovative, manufacturing design to synthesize natural product derivatives

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Some plants, fungi and bacteria produce chemicals (natural products or NPs) with potent bioactivity as part of their chemical ecology. These NPs have excellent activity against human diseases, crop- and animal- pests. However, they are complex molecules, naturally made in small quantities, so they can be challenging and expensive to produce, significantly limiting their market potential. Currently, they are produced through a combination of fermentation to make a NP which is then modified into the final product via one or more chemical steps. By starting from what nature provides, only very restricted chemistries are accessible, which can make the manufacturing process more complex, hazardous and expensive. Acidophil and it’s strategic partner, Isomerase are developing an innovative process of manufacturing NP medicines, starting with rationally designed products made by genetically engineered microbes (“unnatural” NPs) that are carefully designed to enable facile, safe and inexpensive chemistries. As proof-of-concept of this innovative technology, we are applying this approach to a particular NP parasiticide currently used in pets, to dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing of this valuable animal medicine and make it affordable to farmers for use in food animals. Once proven, this manufacturing innovation will revolutionize biotechnology and enable us to produce lower cost NPs, which can then be developed into excellent human pharmaceuticals, crop protection- and animal health- products.