Scientists have achieved a unique breakthrough: they turned ordinary plastic bottles into a drug used in Parkinson’s disease. For the first time, plastic waste was used to produce medicine using a biological process. Scientists from Scotland were helped by special bacteria. A team from the University of Edinburgh genetically modified the bacterium Escherichia coli, which can break down PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic and convert it into the substance L-DOPA.
It is considered a basic drug in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Most patients with this disease use L-DOPA, also known as levodopa. It helps increase dopamine levels in the brain and relieves symptoms such as tremors, stiffness or slowness of movement.
Until now, these medicines were mainly produced from fossil fuels. The new procedure could thus be more environmentally friendly and at the same time limit the amount of plastic waste ending up in landfills. The researchers first broke down the plastic into its basic chemical component – terephthalic acid. The bacteria subsequently converted it into L-DOPA in several steps.
“Turning plastic bottles into a cure for Parkinson’s disease is not just creative recycling, but a way to redesign processes to work with nature and deliver real benefit,” said Liz Fletcher from the Center for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology.
About 50 million tons of PET plastic is produced annually, which makes this technology a potentially important tool for sustainable pharmaceutical production. This is not the first such attempt. Already in 2025, scientists from Edinburgh used the same principle to produce paracetamol from plastic. However, according to them, further research is needed for commercial use.
Study leader Stephen Wallace emphasized the wider significance of the discovery: “This is just the beginning. If we can create drugs for neurological diseases from a plastic bottle, it’s exciting to imagine what else this technology will enable.” Plastic waste is often seen as an ecological problem, but it also represents a huge, so far unused source of carbon.”
