i don't know why exactly -- but thought this was an interesting development. Probably as I have always been skeptical as to how quickly recombinant therapeutics in plants would take to make it to market -- i.e. be commercially and regulatorily viable. Even though, I've seen many projects at this pont that were technically possible.
Caliber opens world’s largest plant-based manufacturing facility.
The US-based vaccine specialist, Caliber Biotherapeutics, has opened the world’s largest modular pharmaceutical manufacturing facility utlizing plant technology at its headquarters in Bryan, Texas. The company claims the new facility is capable of producing 10-100 million low-cost vaccine doses per month, along with other protein therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies.
“With plant-based systems we have an unprecedented level of flexibility and scalability,” said Barry Holtz, Caliber's CSO.
Biodefense expert and chief medical officer for Caliber, Brett Giroir, said the new facility provided the company with a flexible, scalable manufacturing capacity to meet changing demands in the global vaccines market.
In addition to the company’s new plant-based facility in Bryan, Caliber also announced its intention to develop a proprietary product pipeline for cancer and infectious diseases, which it claims will utilize cell and microbial-based production systems.
We shall see what impact this facility and technology actually has on the market. The low-cost production and flexibility being described above would seem suited to production of biosimilars and vaccines for developing areas in the world to name two target segments.
Posted by Bruce Lehr April 26th 2011.
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