Can yeast really make steroid drugs?

• A recent report (2003, Dumas et al) shows that recombinant strains of yeast can synthesize hydrocortisone through a genetically-engineered and self-sufficient biosynthetic pathway.
• Hydrocortisone is a naturally occuring steroid. It is commonly used as an anti-itch ointment as well as a starting material in manufacture of glucocorticoid drugs.
• Glucocorticoids are used to treat arthritis, asthma, skin disorders, and to prevent transplant rejection.

Why is this important?

• Making steroids synthetically is long, multi-step chemical procedure.
• Thus, this new discovery provides a potentially more efficient and cost-effective way to manufacture theraputic drugs.

Figure 1A:Anti-itch cremes such as Cortisol™ use hydrocortisone as their active ingredient.