For the pharmaceuticals industry, the technology of biopharming (also referred to as “molecular farming”) may eventually lead to broad commercialization of drug therapies that are grown via agricultural methods. For example, by inserting human genetic material into plants, scientists can manipulate them so they grow certain human proteins instead of natural plant proteins. The growth in plants of transgenic therapies for humans may become widespread.
While biopharming is in very early stages, scientists in several nations have serious interest in this field, and some funding is beginning to emerge. In the EU, 23 nations have agreed to cooperate to develop a strategy and an infrastructure for molecular farming. The goal is a sustainable European biopharming community with clear frameworks for regulatory, biosafety and intellectual property issues. A primary goal of scientists in this field is to dramatically reduce the cost of producing recombinant proteins.
An experimental drug called ZMapp (developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical of San Diego, California) was used to successfully treat two Ebola patients in 2014. ZMapp is made by mixing three antibodies from tobacco plants that have been infected with genetically engineered plant viruses and then homogenizing and purifying the resulting crop. An earlier example is a biopharmed vaccine used to treat Norwalk virus. The vaccine was first produced from tomatoes but more recently from tobacco leaves also.
Company to Watch: Ventria Bioscience
Sacramento, California-based Ventria Bioscience, www.ventria.com , has received approval from the USDA every year since 1999 to produce crops for use in biopharmaceuticals. Ventria Bioscience plants self-pollinating rice or barley specifically because they produce large quantities of proteins by nature and because they are not pollinated by wind or insect activity. Thus, they theoretically should have no effect on nearby traditional plantings.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Become a Plunkett Research Online subscriber to gain unlimited access to our massive amount of vital industry data and market research.
- ✔ 100,000 Industry Statistics
- ✔ 500 Industries Analyzed for Market Size, Profits and Forecasts
- ✔ 150,000 Industry Executives Profiled
- ✔ 25,000 Companies Profiled, Ranked and Analyzed
- ✔ 1,000 Vital Trends Analyzed, totaling 1,000,000 words
A Representative List of Organizations that Have Used our Research and Products:
