Double Rainbow Announces World’s First Commercial-Scale Biosynthetic Gastrodin, a Natural Analgesic with a Range of Therapeutic Applications

Lexington, Mass., Nov. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DoubleRainbow Biosciences (“Double Rainbow”), a sustainable biotech company harnessing bioengineering to improve the quality of human health, today announced the world’s first commercial-scale biosynthetic production of Gastrodin, a natural analgesic with a wide range of applications across pharmaceutical and consumer health industries.

Gastrodin is the principal bioactive compound of Gastrodia elata, a medicinal plant used for over 2000 years in Asia to treat convulsions, tetanus, headaches, epilepsy, dizziness, numbness, rheumatism, and paralysis. In 1984, the Chinese regulatory authority approved Gastrodin for pharmaceutical use as a non-addictive sedative and analgesic. Today, tubers of the Gastrodia elata plant, either farmed or collected from the wild, are harvested for use across the conventional herbal medicine and supplement industries.

“We are unlocking the full therapeutic potential of natural products, such as Gastrodin, by creating sustainable, high-quality production methods for rare ingredients,” said Jing-Ke Weng, Co-Founder of DoubleRainbow Biosciences. “At Double Rainbow, our proprietary platform technologies are enabling us to pioneer the future of natural product bioengineering and create new opportunities to deliver safe and effective therapies for patients around the world.”

The global Gastrodin market is expected to rise at a considerable rate over the next five years, as the worldwide analgesics industry is projected to reach $50.6 Billion by 2030. With the high demand for new personalized therapies to better manage or prevent the development of chronic pain and opioid abuse, gastrodin is well poised to enter new markets around the world.

The transformative biotechnology and commercial-scale fermentation process developed by Double Rainbow to produce Gastrodin will enable sustainable access to this important medicinal natural compound without the need for environmentally taxing plant extraction or chemical synthesis.  

“Through our technological innovations, the health-promoting potential of gastrodin can now be made available to those who could benefit most,” said Jing-Ke Weng, Co-Founder of DoubleRainbow Biosciences. “Gastrodin is a powerful natural analgesic, with a rich history of use in traditional medicine cultures. Thanks to this advancement, our team, alongside academic and public sector partners, will now work to mine the mechanistic pathways associated with Gastrodin to explore its unique pain-relieving and mental health properties.”

In addition to Gastrodin, Double Rainbow is advancing a rich pipeline of biosynthetic compounds, with the goal to deliver more than a dozen commercial-scale medicinal products by 2025.

About Double Rainbow

Double Rainbow is a sustainable biotech company harnessing the power of natural evolution through bioengineering to improve the quality of human health and ensure the sustainability of our planet. By leveraging advances in the areas of genomics, metabolomics, and synthetic biology, we are accessing the richness and efficacy of natural chemistry like never before to bring therapeutics and bioceuticals to the world at scale without harming the environment. Learn more at www.doublerainbowbio.com.