Medicinal products from plants or even tobacco for health ? a vision that
could soon become reality. Bayer and its subsidiary Icon Genetics have
together developed a new production process that can be used to produce
biotech drugs in tobacco plants.
A new production facility for therapeutic proteins was inaugurated on June
16 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, with a ceremony attended by guests from the
scientific community, politics and business. In the future, the active
substances produced in the tobacco plants could be used to develop new
approaches to the therapy and prevention of diseases for which the current
medical options are not satisfactory.

"This project is intended to improve our chances of finding new therapies
for life-threatening diseases by using drugs obtained with biotechnological
methods,? explained Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, a member of the Board of
Management of Bayer AG whose responsibilities include innovation. ?Not all
cancers are the same. There are many types of tumor disease which have to be
treated individually with specific active substances. The objective is to
use this process to produce an individual drug for each patient." This
future-oriented technology is a perfect example of the innovative way in
which Bayer is combining its extensive expertise in pharmaceutical research
with its knowledge of plant genetics and biotechnology.

At Icon Genetics in the Halle Biocenter, 26 people are currently employed in
research into and the development of biotech active substances produced in
plants. These substances could be used, for example, to treat cancer or as a
vaccine against influenza. The scientists work in approximately 1,000 square
meters of laboratories and greenhouses. The new pilot plant has created 11
new jobs in Halle for highly qualified experts, most of whom come from the
region. Bayer acquired Icon Genetics in 2006, and since then has invested
over EUR 10 million in Halle in the study of plant-made pharmaceuticals.

"Icon Genetics embodies the high innovative potential of biotechnology. We
are tremendously proud that a company like this has come to Halle,?
Minister-President Böhmer commented. ?It shows that Saxony-Anhalt is a good
location for research and that the success in biotechnology that is being
achieved here is meeting with respect throughout the world.?

Biopharmaceuticals offer perspectives for beating disease
Today 15 percent of all medicines are produced using biotechnology, and as
many as one in four new drug products is a biopharmaceutical whose active
ingredient is produced in bioreactors using bacteria, brewer?s yeast and
insect or hamster cells, for example. These products, and cancer treatments
in particular, are expected to account for a growing share of the market.

The production of ?personalized medicines? using biotechnology processes is
an especially important area. Proteins produced in tobacco plants can be
obtained rapidly and in high yields, and this offers prospects for therapies
which have previously been impracticable because of the length of time taken
to produce them or their economic viability.

Before the tobacco plant can start producing a pharmaceutical active
ingredient, the blueprint for the relevant drug product first has to be
transported into the plant with the aid of agrobacteria. The plant is placed
head-first in a bath containing a bacterial solution specific to the plant.
A vacuum process enables the plant to take up the bacterial solution through
its pores. The solution is distributed throughout the tobacco plant and its
genetic information passes into the plant?s cells. The plant then uses the
blueprint introduced in this way to produce the active ingredient.

The first protein produced in the pilot plant in Halle which will be a
candidate for clinical development is a patient-specific antibody vaccine
for the therapy of non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL). NHL is a malignant disorder
affecting the lymphatic system. The objective of the new therapy is to
activate the patient?s immune system, enabling the malignant cells to be
targeted and destroyed by the body?s own defense system. Phase I clinical
testing is scheduled to begin in 2009. The therapeutic proteins obtained in
Halle need to meet certain requirements in order to be used in clinical
studies.

"This facility for the production of clinical trial supplies is an important
step towards using our technology for the benefit of patients,? said
Professor Yuri Gleba, Managing Director and founder of Icon Genetics. ?Using
our method, the tobacco plant is able to produce large quantities of complex
compounds for medicinal use ? and it is a particularly rapid, simple, safe
and low-cost method.?

The Bayer company involved in this project in a lead capacity is Bayer
Innovation GmbH (BIG). BIG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG, evaluates
and develops new fields of business for the Bayer Group that are related to
Bayer?s core competencies of health care, nutrition and innovative materials
and complement its current key areas of innovation and business.

Icon Genetics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer Innovation GmbH; it was
established in 1999 and acquired by Bayer in 2006. The company develops
processes for the biotechnological production of medicines and other
high-end products in plants.
www.checkbiotech.org