Thursday, July 17, 2008

Ceri Jones

Gene modification has equally fascinating applications in healthcare, such as the ability to manufacture antibodies in fruits and the HIV-resistant `living condom`, an oestrogen gel that boosts the male`s natural defences, but many of these innovations are some way off commercial production.

Where gene modification is already making its mark is in plant-made pharmaceuticals. Industrial plants cannot make complex molecules like proteins and peptides, and plant-made pharmaceuticals are increasingly touted as the way to manufacture these cheaply and efficiently for the new generation of drugs. Toronoto-listed SemBioSys Genetics is using plants as biological factories to produce complex molecules for new treatments. Demand for proteins to make pharmaceuticals is predicted to explode over the next six years from about $35 billion in 2007 to about $100 billion by 2011.

Calgary-based SemBioSys is developing insulin using safflower to serve the growing diabetes epidemic. Demand for insulin will boom not only because of the increasing prevalence of the disease, but also because alternate delivery technologies require five to 20 times more insulin per dose, and this is likely to double the current market to $14.5 billion by 2010. Access to a new high volume supply of insulin at a reasonable price will be key to meet this exploding demand and the company estimates its safflower-produced insulin will reduce production
costs by at least 25%. The target is for clinical trials later in the year and a New Drug Application in 2011.

Elsewhere, vaccine production is another exciting possibility for plant-made pharmaceuticals, particularly as typical flu vaccines are grown in eggs and the avian influenza virus could kill eggs used to manufacture vaccine.


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