Products
PlantForm’s vivoXPRESS® plant-based technology platform is designed to deliver a wide range of biopharmaceutical products, including therapeutic and medical countermeasure drugs. Our pipeline includes:
Biosimilar pembrolizumab
PlantForm is advancing a plant-produced biosimilar pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) with the Ministry of Health in Brazil (Fiocruz) for market entry in 2028.
Pembrolizumab is an immunotherapy drug widely used to treat melanoma and several other types of cancer including non-small cell lung cancer. The brand-name version — Keytruda® by Merck — has annual global sales of US$22 billion. It will lose patent protection worldwide in 2028, except for in the U.S.
In 2021, PlantForm entered into a collaborative research and development agreement with Bio-Manguinhos of Brazil to develop biosimilar pembrolizumab for the Brazilian market.
Keytruda is on track to be the world’s best-selling drug with annual sales expected to top $35 billion by 2028.
Biosimilar ranibizumab
PlantForm is also developing a ranibizumab drug, a biosimilar version of Roche’s age-related macular degeneration (AMD) drug Lucentis®.
Sales of drugs in this category were $11.5 billion in 2022, when Lucentis® lost patent protection worldwide. The market for Lucentis®and other similar biological drugs is expected to be $27.8 billion by 2030.
Pre-clinical studies have shown that PlantForm’s biosimilar ranibizumab antibody drug is produced at commercially viable production rates and interacts with the receptor-binding site on VEGF-A as expected. Human clinical trials are expected to begin in the next 18-24 months.
PlantForm expects its plant-based production system will lower manufacturing costs significantly below competitor products. PlantForm expects to launch biosimilar ranibizumab, in partnership with a pharmaceutical company, in world markets in 2027.
PhD9 Antibody for ricin exposure
PlantForm subsidiary AntoXa Corporation is using the vivoXPRESS® system to produce an innovator antibody being studied by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) as an antidote to ricin exposure. The PhD9 antibody drug candidate developed by DRDC prevents ricin from penetrating cells.
Recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (rBuChE)
Butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) is an enzyme that has been developed as a bioscavenger to provide prophylactic protection against nerve agents such as sarin gas. PlantForm, through its subsidiary AntoXa Corporation under contract with DRDC, continues to advance the BuChE program begun more than a decade ago with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Hemopexin
Hemopexin is an innovative enzyme drug that shows promise for treating respiratory damage caused by sickle cell disease and exposure to toxic halogens such as chlorine gas. Research by the University of Alabama at Birmingham in collaboration with PlantForm and AntoXa scientists has demonstrated that recombinant human hemopexin, generated in plants using the vivoXPRESS® platform, was effective in reversing lung and mitochondrial injury caused by exposure to chlorine gas.
Partnerships
PlantForm is interested in establishing partnerships with other companies to develop additional targeted biosimilar and innovator drugs. Learn more about our CDMO services.