Cardiff Uni's anti-malaria advance 'very exciting'

Researchers in Cardiff have developed a new "highly-efficient" method of making disease-fighting compounds, including for an anti-malaria drug.

A Cardiff University team said it can now synthesize sesquiterpenes more quickly and cost-effectively than before.

It has allowed them to almost double the usual production yield of a compound which is used to make the Nobel Prize winning anti-malaria drug artemisinin.

Prof Rudolf Allemann said the development was "very exciting".