Description of the Project

The Pharma-Planta Project is a consortium of 39 principal scientists from academic and industrial institutions in Europe and South Africa. Pharma-Planta is funded for 5 years, by the European Commission as part of the Sixth Framework Programme in the area of "Plant platforms for immunotherapeutic biomolecule production."

Pharma-Planta aims to build a plant based production platform for pharmaceuticals in Europe and to enter the first candidate pharmaceuticals into human clinical trials. The programme will develop robust risk-assessment and risk-management practices based on health and environmental impact, and will work with EU regulatory authorities to ensure safety and acceptance.

Plants have enormous potential for the production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins as they are inexpensive and versatile, amenable to rapid and economical scale-up. The use of GM for the production of pharmaceuticals has precedents, such as human insulin and hepatitis B vaccine, but plant derived materials used in humans have not been formally addressed within the EU. A major goal will be to address the necessary biosafety and regulatory requirements for the use of plant derived pharmaceuticals through a process of engagement and consultation with regulatory bodies involved in GM plants as well as new medicines. The project addresses pharmaceuticals for the prevention of HIV, rabies, tuberculosis and diabetes, that remain significant health problems both in Europe and the developing world.

Pharma-Planta consortium partners represent many of the major laboratories in Europe focusing on the creation of transgenic plants that express important pharmaceuticals for human health. Collectively, the consortium has a wide range of expertise spanning the areas of molecular biology, plant biology, immunology, recombinant protein expression technology, vaccinology, plant biotechnology, risk assessment and IP management. This proposal is a unique opportunity to make an impact on EU and global health through the responsible development of plant biotechnology.