Defra Project No.

NF0612
Sustainable production of the
natural product galanthamine Supply Chain Project
Fact Sheet
This Factsheet gives an overview of one of the projects in the competitive R&D programme ‘Non-Food Uses of Crops – Supply Chain
Assessment and Development’. This programme was initiated in April 2004 and the NNFCC has overseen the delivery of the projects on
Defra’s behalf.

Objectives Report Summary

Alzheimer’s disease is a common form of dementia with an

1. To conduct a desktop review focusing on the economics, opportunities and
constraints for developing a sustainable UK-based supply chain for the plant-derived
natural product, galanthamine. Merigan Ltd will have a major role in the conduct of the
review.
2. To produce a model of the supply chain to inform the industry about the potential for
developing sustainable commercial production of galanthamine in the UK. Merigan Ltd
will have a major role in the development of the model and contribute, under objective
1 above, to the conduct of the review.
estimated population of 15 million sufferers worldwide and
this number expected to treble by 2050. Alzheimer sufferers
exhibit a gradual decline in cognitive faculties with loss of
memory, judgement and ability to comprehend the external
environment. These patients require considerable care and
their inevitable disease progression can exert a heavy toll
emotionally on carers and financially on the health service
and the patient’s family.

3. To analyse the levels of galanthamine present in commercially-acceptable daffodil
varieties grown on a relevant scale at upland and lowland sites using material
provided from Alzeim’s trials. Data from this objective will contribute to inform the
review and supply chain model described under objectives 1 and 2 above. IGER
will be responsible for the design of these trials and the analysis (identification and
quantification) of galanthamine.
Alzheimer patients can be treated with a class of drugs,
called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs slow
the progression of the disease and alleviate many of the
symptoms. One of these drugs is a compound called
galanthamine and is marketed in the UK as Reminyl by
Shire Pharmaceuticals. Galanthamine is an alkaloid
compound found in plants such as daffodils and snowdrops

Project Leader:
Professor M. Theodorou, IGER,
Aberystwyth
Collaborators:
Merigan Research Services Ltd., NNFCC
Aberystwyth; Alzeim Ltd., Brecon Programme Advisor
Image courtesy of Alzeim Ltd Image courtesy of Alzheimer’s
Disease Education and Referral
and Secretariat
Centre, USA
and this natural product was used in the original Possible UK/EU supply chains for generic
drug formulation. A synthetic route was found drugs from daffodil galanthamine
to produce galanthamine which reduced the
requirement for daffodil-sourced drug but the
impending loss of patent protection for the use
of galanthamine as a drug treatment in Alzheimer
patients may change this situation.
This report describes the current and historical UK
supply chain for galanthamine production and sale
for production of the branded drug, Reminyl. The
production of generic formulations of galanthamine
is discussed and a potential supply chain for
a generic producer from UK-grown daffodils
is outlined. Interviews with actual or possible
suppliers for the galanthamine supply chain, the
regulatory bodies and patient organisations have
been carried out and the intelligence gained
incorporated into the report. Each component of
the supply chain has been considered and the
commercial and legislative requirements of the
different parts of the chain reported, alongside
possible hurdles and interactions between supply
chain members. Alternative routes to market, such
as health supplements, are considered together
with the cost implications of related pricing strategy
and legislative issues.
The technical component of this study is described in the Technical
Annex to the report and used commercially grown material from test
plots supplied by Alzeim Ltd. to analyse levels of galanthamine in a
range of commercially-available daffodil varieties including the normal
galanthamine stock, Carlton, from upland and lowland sites in Wales.
The level of galanthamine present in Carlton bulbs at the two sites
has also been analysed for variability, the distribution of galanthamine
throughout the plant tissues determined and the levels of compound
compared with the plant growth cycle in time course experiments.
The financial feasibility of expanding the current
supply chain has been modelled: particularly to
consider the effects of generic formulations on the
price of galanthamine in a markets-based model.
A production and extraction-based model has also
been constructed to describe the likely sensitivities
of galanthamine price with daffodil bulb price,
extraction costs and extraction efficiency. These
models showed that a UK daffodil-based supply
chain for the extraction and supply of galanthamine
for generic drug manufacture is feasible, that
extraction efficiency has a considerable impact on
the economics of the supply chain process and
that cost-effective research to increase the overall
level of galanthamine in the daffodil bulb stock
would be beneficial.
Image courtesy of Alzeim Ltd
Further Information
A full listing of all reports and the full reports themselves are
accessible through the NNFCC website at www.nnfcc.co.uk.
Detailed summaries of the project proposals are available from the
Defra website at:
www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/More.asp?I=NF0612