Sydney students make life-saving anti-malarial drug for US$2

Record ID: 75318

  • Title: Sydney students make life-saving anti-malarial drug for US$2
  • Date: 2nd December 2016
  • Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (DECEMBER 2, 2016) (REUTERS) SYDNEY GRAMMAR SCHOOL STUDENTS (R-L), AUSTIN ZHANG, CHRISTOPHER LAI, DYLAN SIOW-LEE, JAMES WOOD, PATRICK NGO AND BRANDON LEE LOADING REACTION FLASK WITH REACTANT REACTANT BEING POURED THROUGH FUNNEL DYLAN SIOW-LEE LOOKING AT REACTANT COLOURED REACTANT BEING POURED INTO FLASK STUDENTS WATCHING AS SIOW-LEE POURS COLOURED REACTANT INTO FLASK BY PRODUCT SETTLING IN FLASK VARIOUS OF STUDENTS LOOKING AT FLASK BRANDON LEE POURING COLOURED REACTANT INTO BEAKER COLOURED REACTANT DRIPPING INTO BEAKER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYDNEY GRAMMAR STUDENT, BRANDON LEE SAYING: "So it was a lot of trial and error, the process. We had to repeat a lot of the reactions and try different reaction conditions in order to see which materials in which things would react to make the Daraprim. But, yeah, it was a rollercoaster of emotions sometimes, we thought we had the product then we realised we didn't, so yeah, the process of that was a lot. It required a lot of dedication, we had to spend a lot of extracurricular time, such as like before and after school, even during lunch coming to the lab and helping the teachers out with this project." VARIOUS OF ETHOL ACETATE BEING POURED INTO BLUE REACTANT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYDNEY GRAMMAR STUDENT, BRANDON LEE SAYING: "I think because we are high school students we are able to relate to a larger audience, able to relate to the general public and show that even ordinary high school students like us, are able to make this drug for a pretty low price. And yeah, to be able to appeal to that audience and show like even, these compounds which you think are only accessible to these large, large scale companies are actually able to be accessed and produced by ordinary citizens." VARIOUS OF COLOURED REACTANT AND ETHOL ACETATE BEING SHAKEN IN FLASK COLOURED REACTANT BEING DRAINED OUT OF FLASK DESIRED PRODUCT BEING POURED OUT OF FLASK VARIOUS OF DESIRED PRODUCT BEING POURED INTO BEAKER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SYDNEY GRAMMAR STUDENT, BRANDON LEE SAYING: "So what is happened is our science teacher invited us to the lab, he had a huge grin on his face and he showed us an NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectre on the computer, and he was like 'have a look at this' and then we realised it was Daraprim and it was definitely disbelief at the start, but it turned into joy when we realised we actually made the thing we were looking for." DR MALCOLM BIMMS SHOWING STUDENTS BOTTLE OF DARAPRIM BIMMS HOLDING BOTTLE OF DARAPRIM
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2016 07:23
  • Keywords: Australia antimalarial drug students highschool
  • Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
  • City: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015B6X4QT
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A group of students from Sydney Grammar School have reproduced the active ingredient for a life-saving anti-malarial drug, for the cost of US$2.
    Austin Zhang, Christopher Lai, Dylan Siow-lee, James Wood, Patrick Ngo, Brandon Lee and their year 11 science teacher, Dr Malcolm Bimms, under the guidance and supervision of the University of Sydney and global members of the Open Source Malaria consortium produced the drug, Daraprim.
    "So it was a lot of trial and error, the process. We had to repeat a lot of the reactions and try different reaction conditions in order to see which materials in which things would react to make the Daraprim. But, yeah, it was a rollercoaster of emotions sometimes, we thought we had the product then we realised we didn't, so yeah, the process of that was lot. It required a lot of dedication, we had to spend a lot of extracurricular time, such as like before and after school, even during lunch coming to the lab and helping the teachers out with this project," student, Brandon Lee told Reuters on Friday (December 2).
    The drug which is also used for anti-parasitic treatment for toxoplasmosis, and people with low immunity diseases, such as HIV, AIDS, has recently caused global outrage after a price hike from US$13.50 to US$750 a dose last year, the University of Sydney reported.
    "I think because we are high school students we are able to relate to a larger audience, able to relate to the general public and show that even ordinary high school students like us, are able to make this drug for a pretty low price. And yeah, to be able to appeal to that audience and show like even, these compounds which you think are only accessible to these large, large scale companies are actually able to be accessed and produced by ordinary citizens," said Lee.
    In 2015, Martin Shkreli who was founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals at the time, acquired the market rights to Daraprim and raised the price of a dose more than 5000 percent, despite receiving heavy criticism from the global media and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
    The World Health Organisation lists Daraprim as an essential medicine.
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