Emerging Interests of Biopharmaceutical

Emerging Interests of Biopharmaceutical Plants Towards Botanical Sources

By Anjali Goswami

Biopharmaceutical plants have been dealing with the production of medications especially therapeutic proteins from animal tissues. Such protein therapeutics obtained from their animal sources are in minute amounts and cannot supplement industrial production. Thus alternative sources are needed to be found out.

Modern biotechnology has resulted in the production of new therapeutic agents using botanical sources. Plants hold the potential for cost-effective, large-scale production of recombinant proteins for industrial and pharmaceutical uses. By the application of genetic engineering, plants can be used to produce active proteins including mammalian antibodies, blood product substitutes, vaccines, hormones, cytokines, and a variety of other therapeutic agents.

Efficiency of biopharmaceutical production in plants largely depends on proper host plant selection and gene expression system. The process mainly involves insertion of DNA of the target molecule into a proper host plant. This will reproduce the molecule during its own growth. Natural lack of antibodies in the plants further facilitates the production of antibodies for the recovery and purification processes. Results have shown that this production system is robust and commercially attractive. Further existing crop growing, processing and storing methods offer a flexible system for potential production of unlimited quantities of biopharmaceuticals.

The plants based pharmaceutical is at an early stage of development. But the investigation found it as a valid candidate to compete in the emerging market. It possess the characteristics such as low initial investment, easy recovery and purification, high safety in production process and offers scalable manufacturing capacity. These characteristics anticipate substantial economic benefits in terms of production costs. However, this plant factory option cannot be compared with the currently existing technologies as these are only at their growing stage of development.

Biopharmaceuticals have undergone a rapid expansion with growth rates higher than most other pharmaceutical segments. At present, the production of biopharmaceuticals from plants is legally permitted. However, there are various guidelines on the quality of biological active substances produced by plants. If these rules and regulations are not properly followed, it may heavily affect the development of this sector.