By Ceri Jones

Certain agricultural applications of gene modification are well known, such
as the introduction of herbicide tolerance into crops such as soya bean,
drought-resistant crops and grains with enhanced nutritional value, such as
mineral and vitamin-boosted 'golden rice'.
Gene modification has equally fascinating applications in healthcare, such
as the ability to manufacture antibodies in fruits and the HIV-resistant
'living condom', an oestrogen gel that boosts the male's natural defences,
but many of these innovations are some way off commercial production.

Where gene modification is already making its mark is in plant-made
pharmaceuticals. Industrial plants cannot make complex molecules like
proteins and peptides, and plant-made pharmaceuticals are increasingly
touted as the way to manufacture these cheaply and efficiently for the new
generation of drugs. Toronoto-listed SemBioSys Genetics is using plants as
biological factories to produce complex molecules for new treatments. Demand
for proteins to make pharmaceuticals is predicted to explode over the next
six years from about $35 billion in 2007 to about $100 billion by 2011.

Calgary-based SemBioSys is developing insulin using safflower to serve the
growing diabetes epidemic. Demand for insulin will boom not only because of
the increasing prevalence of the disease, but also because alternate
delivery technologies require five to 20 times more insulin per dose, and
this is likely to double the current market to $14.5 billion by 2010. Access
to a new high volume supply of insulin at a reasonable price will be key to
meet this exploding demand and the company estimates its safflower-produced
insulin will reduce production
costs by at least 25%. The target is for clinical trials later in the year
and a New Drug Application in 2011.

Elsewhere, vaccine production is another exciting possibility for plant-made
pharmaceuticals, particularly as typical flu vaccines are grown in eggs and
the avian influenza virus could kill eggs used to manufacture vaccine.
www.checkbiotech.org