Just three years ago, a global shortage of the antimalarial natural product artemisinin alarmed medics fighting the killer disease, and spurred scientists who were developing alternative sources of the drug.

Yet a glut of the compound has now saturated the market to such a degree that prices have slumped, threatening to put some Chinese drug manufacturers out of business. And Africa - where around a million children die of malaria every year - still isn’t getting enough of the drug.

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