Medicines from plants approved for clinical trials

UK regulators have approved the first clinical laboratory trial in Europe of an antibody produced from genetically modified plants.

The landmark decision was announced on Tuesday (July 19th) and was made to allow for the human testing of an anti-HIV product comprised from genetically modified tobacco plants.

Currently, most biopharmaceuticals are made in clinical laboratories in fermentation vats containing bacteria or mammalian cells, however this process is incredibly costly.

Permission to test the plant derived anti-HIV product opens the doors for the mass production of medicines in genetically modified plants, a move that would dramatically reduce costs and therefore improve worldwide access to medicines, especially in developing countries where HIV is a major issue.

"This is a red letter day for the field. The approval from the MHRA for us to proceed with human trials is an acknowledgement that monoclonal antibodies can be made in plants to the same quality as those made using existing conventional production systems," said Professor Julian Ma, scientific coordinator for Pharma-Planta and Professor of Molecular Immunology at St George's, University of London.