Economic assessment of plant cell culture for the production of ajmalicine

Cost estimates have been prepared for commercial‐scale production of ajmalicine‐rich Catnaranthus roseus biomass using plant cell culture. At the current state of the technology the cost would be approximately $7.30/lb dry biomass ($3215/kg ajmalicine). Naturally‐grown C. roseus roots have a 50% lower ajmalicine concentration but would cost only ca. $0.70/lb ($619/kg ajmalicine). The principal reason for the high cost of the plant cell culture route is not the slow specific growth rate (0.35 day −1 ), but rather the slow specific product accumulation rate (0.26 mg/g day). This rate will have to be increased by a factor of 40 to make the process competitive.