This article was updated on 16.05.2022 and was originally published on 27.01.2016.
Understanding the Expertise of Plant Extraction
Drugs of a natural origin are an important part of the active substances portfolio produced by Teva api.
Extracted from plant material, the isolated and purified products are either used directly as APIs or serve as the intermediates for further partial synthesis.
Our portfolio of natural products is extensive, ranging from standardized herbal extracts (e.g. Silymarin) to natural or semisynthetic alkaloids (e.g. ergot alkaloids as Cabergoline, and Bromocriptine, or Galantamine isolated from narcissus bulbs), to the most advanced anticancer products (e.g., Paclitaxel, Docetaxel, Cabazitaxel).
Plant Extraction Key Factors
The availability and quality of the biomass, usually of herbal origin, are key factors for the isolation of natural products. We have our own growth technologies and our own cultivars or strains developed by long-term selection and breeding, such as the silybin cultivar of Silybum marianum, or the ergot strains that produce the required spectrum of alkaloids.
In other cases, Teva api experts collaborate with horticultural companies worldwide on the field plantation of other herbal species.
The Process of Plant Extraction
The principal technology for isolating natural products involves extracting herbal material using batteries of percolators or continual carousel-type extractors, followed by further processing of the obtained primary extract.
Production scale chromatography is often used for the further purification of isolated primary extract to obtain the natural product API or intermediates for the next semisynthesis of the final API´s.
The final API´s meet the criteria or FDA, EMA and other international agencies.
