What Will The Future Hold For Plantibodies In Big Pharma Manufacturing?

Using plants rather than mammalian cells to manufacture life-saving drugs could be quicker, cheaper, and more efficient, but according to a report by Reuters, big pharma companies have not yet invested in the new method, conservatively waiting to see how these new drugs pass the regulatory process before abandoning tried and true manufacturing systems.

Plantibodies have been gaining attention recently after the emergence of ZMapp, a drug developed by Mapp BioPharma using tobacco plants, which was used to treat two Americans infected with the Ebola virus.

This new process uses plants to manufacture antibodies, the proteins used by the immune system to protect healthy cells from foreign entities in the blood stream.

Right now, a few small companies have made the move towards developing plantibody technology, including privately-held companies Ibio, PlantForm, and German company, Icon Genetics, which have all jumped into the wagon with Mapp Pharma.

Pharma Industry leaders Pfizer, Gilead, Amgen, and Roche all told Reuters that they were not currently using plants in their drug production.

Victor Klimyuk, COO at Icon Genetics, told Reuters: "Our technology can complement standard manufacturing techniques. It may work best when speed is required or when flexibility is required ... to manufacture vaccines for an epidemic or for fast, reliable production."

One concern, cited in a 2002 draft guidance from the FDA, is whether the plants can produce a consistent product.

"Developing new drugs is a very expensive and risky business,' said Qiang Chen, a professor at Arizona State University currently researching the use of plant-farmed antibodies against the West Nile virus. "I understand why they don't want to jump into new technology that will make their lives potentially more risky," Chen said.

Don Stewart, CEO of Plantform, believes that it is only a matter of time before interest generates in much larger companies.

“We see it having a pretty broad applicability,” Stewart told Reuters. “The cost of these drugs is a huge burden on the healthcare systems in the first world, particularly drugs for oncology and chronic disease.”

Big Pharma is understandably cautious, but if further research yields results of consistent and effective drugs at nearly one tenth the cost of current drugs, industry experts believe that plantibodies merit further attention.