No need for poppies: Scientists close to making morphine from sugar

University researchers have found a way to create morphine - a refined form of heroin - using sugar. A genetically modified strain of yeast can be used to ferment the opioid when it is exposed to glucose. The hope is that a “cheaper, less addictive, safer and more-effective” painkiller can be developed, according to the Nature journal. But commentators in the journal warn that it could benefit the drug’s trade rather than the field of medicine.

All the elements are in place, but the whole pathway needs to be integrated before a one-pot glucose-to-morphine stream is ready to roll.

Professor of engineering Kenneth A Oye

Experts say the threat could be averted by closely guarding the bio-engineered yeast strains and restricting access to the DNA that would allow cartels to reproduce them. So far, the process is theoretical and the drug has not yet been synthesised. The discovery was a joint effort by researchers at the University of California Berkeley and Concordia University in Canada, with the final piece of the puzzle provided by the University of Calgary. A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency “does not perceive an imminent threat” because no modified yeast strain is commonly available yet.

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