Stanford University has successfully made hydrocodone, the primary component of Vicodin, from simple baker's yeast. This is in contrast to current methods which use opium poppies.
The process is not straightforward. Its biosynthesis must go through several levels before it becomes viable for medicinal use.
Before they published their report, many labs could turn yeast to sugar, then to hydrocodone, but never as one complete process. Now, Christina Smolke's lab in Stanford has the distinction of doing just that.
It is the culmination of over ten years of research. "We essentially put DNA into the yeast cells that give it the instructions to build a chemical assembly line process that ends with the medicines we want," Smolke shares.
The yeast is made up of 23 engineered genes from plant, bacteria, and rats. It can make a direct conversion from sugar to hydrocodone. The yeast can make a direct conversion to thebain as well, an opioid precursor.
Thebain is currently sourced from opium poppies. With Smolke's progress, it is possible to do away with this step.
Her lab can create hydrocodone in just three to five days. However, the engineering is not yet viable. As of now, it takes around 4,400 gallons of the bioengineered yeast to make one dose of pain medication.
The future looks bright though. This pain medication may be made accessible to parts of the world where poppies are not readily available. According to the World Health Organization, almost 5.5 billion people have little to no access to this drug.
Of course, addressing home-brewed illegal narcotics is a primary concern. Smolke says it is impossible given the conditions of these home-breweries.
It is also her hope that this alternative way of making hydrocodone could make opioids less addictive in the future. Also, she is not stopping with just hydrocodone.
This seems in the realm of possibility since artemisinin, an anti-malaria drug, is already bioengineered from yeast and this method provides around one third of the global supply of the drug.
To illustrate the difficulty of making hydrocodone and thebain from her yeast, Smolke says that to bioengineer artemisinin, 6 genes must be introduced to baker's yeast. Smolke's yeast, on the other hand, contains 23.
