PlantForm | About Us

About PlantForm

PlantForm Corporation is a privately-held Canadian biopharmaceutical company focused on the rapid development and production of specialty antibody and protein drugs using our proprietary vivoXPRESS® manufacturing platform. The plant-based vivoXPRESS® system makes it easier, faster and less expensive to produce approved biologic drugs for novel indications and new markets.

The company’s vivoXPRESS® technology uses genetically modified plants to produce biopharmaceuticals in fully contained greenhouse environments. Our plant-based technology delivers high drug expression levels and mammalian-type glycosylation (to eliminate the risk of an unwanted immune system reaction). vivoXPRESS® also provides the following key advantages compared to other fermentation systems for biologic drug production (e.g., mammalian cell culture):

  • rapid drug development & production timelines
  • versatile manufacturing platform (for new product development)
  • unlimited scale-up capability
  • low manufacturing costs (approximately one-tenth of mammalian-cell systems), and
  • the ability to efficiently manufacture products that are problematic in other systems

See our vivoXPRESS® manufacturing platform diagram.

The PlantForm research team continues to advance the vivoXPRESS® platform, which originated at the University of Guelph through the work of Dr. J. Christopher Hall, a PlantForm co-founder. All relevant intellectual property is protected by seven families of patent filings, with seven patents issued or allowed to date.

PlantForm’s pipeline features both innovator and biosimilar products, including:

  • biosimilar pembrolizumab, a plant-made version of the cancer drug Keytruda®
  • biosimilar ranibizumab, a plant-made version of the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) drug Lucentis®
  • an innovator antibody for treatment of ricin exposure
  • recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), an enzyme used as preventative medicine for people vulnerable to attack by nerve agents, organophosphates or other stimulants
  • an innovator antibody for treatment of chlorine exposure and sickle cell disease.

Our Commitment

PlantForm is committed to producing high-value biopharmaceuticals in an environmentally and socially responsible manner to improve the quality of life and survival of patients with cancer and other critical illnesses. 

 
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