University of New Brunswick

Chinese Yeast Factory Boosts Cancer Drug Production 1000 Times

- A Zhejiang University team engineered brewer's yeast to produce 164.9 mg/L of catharanthine, the direct precursor to the anticancer drug vinblastine, inside a fermenter. - This output is nearly 1,000 times higher than any previously published global figure, breaking a decades-long supply bottleneck for the costly drug. - Vinblastine has been sourced exclusively from the Madagascar periwinkle, requiring up to 2 tonnes of dried leaves to yield just 1 gram, making it more expensive than gold by weight. - The findings, led by Professor Lian Jiazhang with collaborators in Canada and Westlake University, were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on July 16.