Production d'Artemisia annua en Afrique: exemple de Madagascar

ARTEMISIA ANNUA PROJECT

Institut Pasteur29 Mars 2006

BIONEXX

BIONEXX Project - Introduction

The Bionexx project was initiated early 2005 building upon CIPLA’s interest in identifying alternative sources of Artemisinin, the base compound of second generation anti malarial drugs.Thehypothesis was that Madagascar offered certain interestingconditions favorable to the cultivation of Artemisia Annua. This added source of Artemisinin could contribute to reducing theworldwide supply gap and therefore helping to cure the millions of africans that are in need of an effective and affordable medicationfor Malaria.

It is in fact CIPLA and more specifically Dr. Hamied that was back in 2000 at the origin of putting a cheap (1$ per day) and effective treatment for AIDS on the market serving the needs of Third World Patients.

The Context of the Project

• What’s at stake : Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases in theworld and more specifically in Africa. Women and young children are especially at risk.« Malaria can be compared to seven fully loadedBoeing 747 that would deliberately crash in Mount Kilimandjaro on a daily basis » Dr. Wenceslaus Kilama, Chairman, Malaria Foundation International

• The parasite has developed resistance to traditional mono therapiesrelying on chloroquine.

• The utilisation of Artemisinin and its derivatives in ACT’s has provenits effectiveness.

The Market• The April 2004 WHO recommendation promoting ACTs for Africa

has provoked an unplanned disruption in the worldwide Artemisininmarket. In the short term 2004-2006 demand will far outpace supplyas growers progressively cultivate much larger acreage of ArtemisiaAnnua.

• The traditionnal growing areas of Artemisia Annua are China andVietnam.

• In this context of high demand for Artemisinin and subsequentinflation of price levels, certain other countries have also started to grow and extract Artemisia Annua.

• WHO estimates that for 2006 the demand on a worldwide basis willreach around 160 Million ACT treatments which equates to roughly200 Metric Tons of Artemisinin. In 2003, the production of ACTsbarely reached 3 Million treatments. In the mid term worldwidedemand is expected to reach a few hundred million treatments.

African Experiences withArtemisia Annua

• Even though Madagascar was a pioneer in the introduction of Artemisia Annua 15 years ago (Mr. JuslainRaharinaivo/Mediplant) other countries have overtakenMadagascar and developped widescale cultivation of Artemisia Annua (Kenya, Tanzanie, Uganda).

• In the context of his research, Mr. Juslain Raharinaivo has demonstrated that Artemisia Annua can be cultivated in Madagascar and displaying above average artemisinincontent levels.

BIONEXX Project• The Bionexx projects aims to put on the market Artemisinin targetting

major pharmaceuticals which are themselves involved in themanufacturing of ACTs (Cipla,Sanofi-Aventis,Novartis,Dafra, Mepha,Abbott,Ipsen,…)

• Two components to the project:

– Cultivation of Artemisia Annua– Extraction and purification of the active component Artemisinin

• In a second steps Bionexx ambitions to target other Malagasy medicinalplants.

Projet BIONEXX - Cultivation• The cultivation of Artemisia Annua has begun in March 2005 integrating the

knowhow of Juslain Raharinaivo. The first location chosen was the Lac Alaotra region because of its history of documented performance.

• 104 hectares were put in production with a modest objective of 100 tons of AA dry matter. The learnings of this first campaign should allow Bionexx to scale up significantly for the next season and provide enough dry matter to conduct the development of the extraction protocols.

• The second campaign is under cultivation (beginning of nurseries in November 05). The objective is around 1250 acres of Artemisia Annua. Midterm, acreage should increase to 2500 acres with an even split betweenBionexx led industrial cultivation and outgrowers.

• During the initial campaign Bionexx also conducted cultivation tests in othersites (Port Bergé and Antsirabé)

Lac Alaotra

Beramanja Cultivation Site

BERAMANJA SITE

150 Ha

Beramanja/Lac Alaotra NurseriesLate March 2005

Beramanja/Lac Alaotra Artemisia Annua PlantsLate March 2005

120 Seed bedsFor roughly 250 acres

Beramanja/Lac Alaotra NurseriesLate June 2005 : Beginning of Transplanting

BERAMANJAEarly July 2005 : Beginning of transplanting

Beramanja : Irrigation / WeedingAugust 2005

BERAMANJAJim Simon/Rutgers University Visit

Mid December 2005

BIONEXX Project

Expansion Plan for Cultivated Areas

2005-2012

��

��

��

2006 Rainy Season Campaign 450 400 50 800 100 �� !� �� !�

2007 Rainy Season Campaign 500 400 100 800 200 ��!�� "�� "��

2008 Rainy Season Campaign 800 500 300 1 000 600 �� !�� "��



2011 Rainy Season Campaign �� 500 400 1 000 800 �� !�� "��

2012 Rainy Season Campaign �� 500 400 1 000 800 �� !�� "��

�� !�!��

Hectares AA Dry Matter (MT)

• After a trial campaign of 100 hectares (250 acres) in the Lac Alaotra region, it is planned to roll out to thefollowing sites :

• Moramanga 150 Ha• Antsirabe 140 Ha (2 sites : Cfama and Fifamanor)• Antsirabe : First outgrower campaign of 50 Ha• Lac Alaotra ( Beramanja and Marololo) 150 Hectares and 20 hectares of outgrowers• Fianarantsoa : Trial of 7 hectares (potential of 300+ hectares)• Port Bergé : Trial of 5 hectares

Cultivated Areas and AA Dry Leaf ProductionMajor Sites

Selected Sites for Cultivation of Artemisia Annua

Port Bergé (trials)

BeramanjaLac Alaotra

Moramanga

Antsirabe

Fianarantsoa (trials)

Bionexx Artemisia Annua Cultivation Sites

Moramanga

Marovoay Cultivation Site

Moramanga : Beginning of NurseryNovember 2005

MORAMANGA Jim Simon VisitMid December 2005

MORAMANGA NurseryMid January 2006

MORAMANGA : Transplanting StageMid January 2006

Antsirabe

Ambohimiarivo Cultivation Site

Antsirabe : Field TrialsMid July transplanting : October 2005

Artemisia Annua PlantsAntsirabe Trial SiteDecember 2006

Antsirabe : Beginning of 2 NurseriesCfama and FifamanorEarly November 2005

Antsirabe : Cfama NurseryEarly November 2005

Antsirabe

Outgrower Progam

BIONEXX Outgrower Program

• Bionexx ambitions to progressively scale up the Outgrower program. For the second campaign which started in November 2005, Bionexx has put limited human and financialressources to launch this program and has decided to focus on the Antsirabe/Vakinankaratraregion.

• The rationale behind the controlled roll out of the outgrower program is to limit the riskstaken by small growers in a period where Bionexx is itself building up its know how in thecultivation of Artemisia Annua.

• Initial response to Bionexx’s communication campaign on the cultivation of this plant has been quite strong. 100 hectares commitments only focusing on Antsirabe region.

• In order to achieve the mid term 50/50 split between Industrial cultivation and Outgrowers, Bionexx’s needs to leverage on the know how developped by Technoserve in Tanzania andon relatively significant financial ressources.

Antsirabe : First outgrowerManandona Region (South of Antsirabe)

Early December 2005

Bionexx Banner Displayed atIavoloha « Vitrine de Madagascar »

Promoting Artemisia Annua CultivationWith a special Focus on Outgrowers

BIONEXX Project

Competitiveness of Artemisia Annua Cultivationin Madagascar

Competitiveness Artemisia AnnuaCultivation in Madagascar

The competitiveness of the Artemisia Annua chain is based on :

• Availability of a cheap and qualified workforce• Available land acreage (Malagasy Government land concessions)• Climatic conditions which are favorable (latitude,temperature, altitude..)• Madagascar currently benefits from substantial lender support

BIONEXX was able to take the leadership in Artemisia Annua as a result of :

• A ten year track record in cultivation of Artemisia Annua in Madagascar• Ownership of a local strain of Artemisia Annua which is a non hybrid

allowing for a quick ramp up of cultivated areas.

BIONEXX Project

Extraction Options

BIONEXX Project - ExtractionPartnership with INDENA

• Discussions with Indena started in April 2005 and have intensified since. Indena andBionexx are motivated by the prospect of entering into a « win win » partnership.

• Indena and Bionexx have signed an MOU (February 8th 2006) to launch a feasibilitystudy focusing on extraction and purification protocols in view of extracting Bionexx’s Artemisia Annua dry matter in the Fianaranstsoa based plant. The target date for completion is June 2006.

• In parallel Bionexx is currently working with the Fianaranstaoa Region to try to securearound 300 hectares of land in a 50 km radius of the Indena plant. Initial trials of a few hectares have already started.

BIONEXX ProjectPriorities

BIONEXX ProjectTop Priorities

• Accessing available markets and securing top 3/4 Artemisininusers (focused on WHO approved ACT suppliers)

• Monitoring Content of Artemisia Annua Dry Matter

• Rolling out Outgrower Program (tomorrow’s competitiveness)

• Securing Cultivation sites for Industrial scale production

• Improving Artemisia Annua strain over the Mid term (SPS, Hybrid..)

BIONEXX ProjectAmbitions

Bionexx Project Ambitions

� The objective is to position Bionexx as a regional leader in thesupply of Artemisinin along side EAB in Tanzania. Theproduction of Artemisinin is targeted to largely cover the needs of the local Malagasy market.

� It could also be envisaged in the mid term to team up with a local pharmaceutical company to provide a fully integrated solution to cure malaria starting from the Artemisia Annua seed to the final ACT based medication.

� Bionexx will also contribute to the social development of theregions in which it operates. Beyound employement creation, Bionexx will also put in place innovative renewable energyelectrification systems.

THANK YOUTHANK YOU

Production d'Artemisia annua en Afrique: exemple de Madagascar

Health & Medicine

Transcript of Production d'Artemisia annua en Afrique: exemple de Madagascar