Engineered yeast from Chinese lab slashes cost of rare cancer drug by massively boosting yield

Researchers at Zhejiang University have engineered ordinary yeast to produce the anticancer drug vinblastine, increasing output by a thousandfold. Traditionally extracted from Madagascar periwinkle, 2 tonnes of dried leaves yield only 1 gram of the drug, making it more expensive than gold. This breakthrough could make the drug cheaper and more reliably available.