A new commercial-scale alternative manufacturing process to produce a complementary source of artemisinin to supplement the plant-derived supply is described by conversion of biosynthetic artemisinic acid into semisynthetic artemisinin using diastereoselective hydrogenation and photooxidation as pivotal steps. This process was accepted by Prequalification of Medicines Programme (PQP) in 2013 as a first source of nonplant-derived-artemisinin in industrial scale from Sanofi production facility in Garessio, Italy.

I n addition to the work of the Amyris team the group of Wu has published a related strategy for the conversion of DHAA to artemisinin. This reference ( 27) should be added to the paper. The reference should be cited in the third paragraph of the Introduction in the sentence "Bearing major breakthroughs in synthetic methodology, we are confident that this hybrid approach is far superior to a total synthesis and none of the many total syntheses published 7−12,27 appears to even approach providing a basis for a potentially viable process." (27)

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