Traditional methods of drug production in plants can take several years to produce the seeds required for commercial scale production. PlantForm will reduce turn-around time for rapid product development by using a transient expression systems licensed from Icon Genetics, an innovative company from Germany. This system is far more rapid than other like-systems, taking weeks or months instead of years, and produces high yields. After introduction of the genetic material, production of target protein occurs immediately and peaks within one to two weeks, after which the plants can be harvested for product purification.
The PlantForm method of production is being developed to produce natural human glycosylation patterns on the drug substances which is an innovation which is unique compared to all existing methods of recombinant drug production.
A proven laboratory scale purification system for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has been implemented that combines the use of standard commercially available manufacturing equipment with innovative capture technology. Dr. Hall’s laboratory has developed a novel affinity purification system using a Protein L/G fused to a cellulose binding domain. This fusion protein can be bound to cellulose beads providing an inexpensive effective affinity purification system for the isolation of antibodies. This system, in combination with standard pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) processing and testing, will be used for the commercial production of biosimilar drugs.
