What Kinds of Medicines Might Be Produced
in Pharm Plants?
Relatively high volume products, such as monoclonal antibodies
(MAB) -- complex molecules that can detect illnesses in the body
such as cancer or certain heart conditions -- are targets for
production in plant-based systems.
Biotech companies have already demonstrated the ability of corn
systems to produce large quantities of MABs. Because most of these
MABs target cancer, the projected capacity needs are great --
hundreds of thousands of kilograms. The down side to producing
MABs in transgenic plants, however, is that plants can attach
sugars that are either unwanted or different from those found
on human proteins; such sugars may be cause adverse effects. Furthermore,
MABs often depend upon these sugars for their therapeutic effect,
and so this hurdle needs to be overcome if MAB production is to
be successful in transgenic plants.
Another area of research in plant-made pharmaceuticals is the
production of so-called "orphan drugs" -- drugs that
treat a rare disease affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans. Some
examples of these illnesses are enzyme deficiency syndromes such
as Gaucher or Fabry 
diseases.
Medications to treat these illnesses can cost a single patient
between $100,000-$400,000 per year; producing these treatments
in pharm plants could reduce treatment costs to a fraction of
this price tag.
Blood replacement products such as human serum albumin are also
being researched as a potential bio-pharming application. These
products have a wide range of applications and are used to treat
patients in cases of surgery, shock, and serious burns. They are
also used to coat numerous medical devices.
The “big-ticket” items are the recombinant cancer
and heart drugs for human use. There are already over 100 approved
by FDA. U.S. expenditures on these drugs is currently about $19
billion. In 10 years it will probably be closer to $100 billion.
It may be that within 10 years, close to half the pharmaceuticals
sold in the United States will be pharmaceuticals made from biologics.
How much will actually be made in plants is difficult to say.
