Caffeine Citrate

Plants make chemical weapons to protect themselves, and many of these compounds have become vital to human medicine. Researchers found that one powerful plant chemical is produced using a gene that looks surprisingly bacterial. This suggests plants reuse microbial tools to invent new chemistry. The insight could help scientists discover new drugs and produce them more sustainably.Plants naturally produce chemicals called alkaloids to protect themselves from threats such as insects and disease. People have relied on these same compounds for generations, using them in pain relief, medical treatments, and everyday products including caffeine and nicotine. Scientists want to better understand how plants create alkaloids so they can develop medicines faster, at lower cost, and with less harm to the environment. A Powerful Plant Chemical With an Unexpected Origin Researchers at the University of York focused on a plant known as Flueggea suffruticosa, which makes a strong alkaloid called securinine. While studying how this compound is produced, the team uncovered a surprising detail. The key gene responsible for making securinine resembles genes typically found in bacteria rather than in plants. This finding suggests that plants may have adopted an unusual evolutionary strategy. Instead of relying only on traditional plant chemistry, they appear to reuse molecular tools commonly seen in microbes to build defensive chemicals. The researchers believe this approach may be more widespread across the plant kingdom than previously thought. Plants Reusing Microbial Tools Dr. Benjamin Lichman from the University of York's Department of Biology explained why the discovery stood out. "Plants and bacteria are really different forms of life, and so it really was a surprise to see that this significant plant chemical was being driven from a bacterial-like gene. "We think that this means plants 'recycle' biological tools that are more commonly found in microbes, when they can be useful to them. Even more interesting was that this gene makes securinine in a completely different way from other well-known plant chemicals." Once the researchers recognized this new chemical pathway, they began finding similar genes hidden within the DNA of many other plants. This gave scientists a powerful new method for identifying useful natural compounds and understanding how they are made. New Paths for Drug Production and Safety These plant genes could eventually be used to manufacture valuable chemicals in laboratory settings. Doing so would reduce the need to harvest rare plants or rely on environmentally damaging industrial processes. Dr. Lichman noted that alkaloids often need careful handling. "Alkaloids can be toxic, so when we use them in medicines they have to be highly controlled and often modified, so understanding the process that goes into making alkaloids can help us develop new methods for producing them in the lab or removing them to make some plants less toxic. "Now that we know how to look for this chemical production, and that we can find it in more plants than we originally thought, we have new avenues to explore for the production and discovery of safe drugs." Implications for Agriculture and the Environment The findings, published in the journal New Phytologist, may also deepen scientists' understanding of how plants grow and survive. This knowledge could eventually support the development of stronger and more resilient crops. Researchers say the study highlights how much remains to be learned from nature. Unexpected discoveries in basic plant science can lead to major advances in medicine, agriculture, and environmental sustainability.

Swiss CDMO Siegfried has acquired the controlled drug substance businesses of the Noramco Group and Extractas Bioscience. With the deals, Siegfried gains active pharmaceutical ingredient sites in Wilmington, Delaware; Athens, Georgia; and Australia. Swiss CDMO Sigfried has been on a growth jag over the last decade. The story continued Tuesday as Siegfried revealed agreements to acquire the controlled drug substance businesses of the Noramco Group and Extractas Bioscience.With the deals, Siegfried picks up three active pharmaceutical ingredient facilities for small molecule production. Combined, these sites employ approximately 400 people. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed, though the price was “well below recent expectations for US assets,” the company said in an investor presentation (PDF).From the Noramco Group, Siegfried gains a commercial-scale production site in Wilmington, Delaware. Siegfried also acquires Noramco subsidiary Purisys, which operates out of a clinical development and manufacturing facility in Athens, Georgia. Additionally, Siegfried picks up Australia-based Extractas Bioscience—formerly Tasmanian Alkaloids.Investors registered their approval of the transactions, bumping up Siegfried's share price by 13%.Siegfried made the deals with SK Capital, which gained Noramco and Extractas a decade ago when it purchased the opiate supply business of Johnson & Johnson for $800 million. Siegfried said the acquisition marks “another important milestone” in executing its strategy to expand its presence in the U.S. CEO Marcel Imwinkelried added in a release that the transaction is “aligned with our highly selective, disciplined value accretive approach to M&A.”“By adding exceptional US-based capabilities, we will become even more attractive to both existing and new customers, creating new opportunities to accelerate profitable growth,” Imwinkelried said. “The combined capacity and expertise of the three sites strengthen our position as a leading CDMO for small-molecule drug substances.” Siegfried plans to expand its synthesis business in the U.S. by “optimizing its controlled substance capacity” across its facility in Pennsville, New Jersey, and the newly acquired facility in Wilmington, the company said. The early-phase development capabilities of Purisys plus the “extraction expertise” of Extractas will provide a foundation for “accelerating growth and improving profitability,” Siegfried said.When SK Capital picked up Extractas in 2016, roughly 85% of the legal, global supply of thebaine, the opium poppy extract used to make OxyContin and other similar drugs, came from Tasmania.Siegfried has made a number of acquisitions over the last decade, contributing to an increase in revenue from 315 million Swiss francs in 2014 to 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.4 billion) in 2024. In 2024, Siegfried purchased a early-phase development and manufacturing facility in Grafton, Wisconsin, from fellow CDMO Curia.In 2020, the company struck a deal with Novartis, gaining two facilities in Spain that produce finished injectable eye drugs, inhaled capsules and oral solid-dose medicines. Five years before that, Siegfried paid $302 million for BASF’s ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and caffeine API businesses as well as BASF’s custom drug manufacturing operation. The four facilities are all located in Europe.