Saving bucks and more
A TEAM of researchers from the school Of biotechnology of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in Tamil Nadu, has developed a new drug that could relieve the burden of treatment expenses for cancer patients. They have developed an inexpensive version of the anti-cancer antibiotic, adriamycin, which is being imported currently. The team developed an improved strain of the microbe, Streptomyces pencethius, from which the antibiotic is developed. Adriamycin is expensive because the medium used to grow it costs a neat packet.
The researchers at MKu have used an inexpensive material called chitin to grow the microbial strain. When chitin is added, the microbe produces an enzyme called chitinase. Chitin is a polymer which has to be broken into monomers having both carbon and nitrogen resources. The microbe grows on the broken down products of chitin and produces the antibiotic. Adriamycin is effective against several types of lymphomas. The team is also working on developing derivatives with minimal side effects.