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Recombinant plant-derived pharmaceutical proteins: current technical and economic bottlenecks

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Abstract

Molecular pharming is a cost-effective platform for the production of recombinant proteins in plants. Although the biopharmaceutical industry still relies on a small number of standardized fermentation-based technologies for the production of recombinant proteins there is now a greater awareness of the advantages of molecular pharming particularly in niche markets. Here we discuss some of the technical, economic and regulatory barriers that constrain the clinical development and commercialization of plant-derived pharmaceutical proteins. We also discuss strategies to increase productivity and product quality/homogeneity. The advantages of whole plants should be welcomed by the industry because this will help to reduce the cost of goods and therefore expand the biopharmaceutical market into untapped sectors.

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  1. Departament de Producció Vegetal I Ciència Forestal (PVCF), Universitat de Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure 177, E-25198, Lleida, Spain

    Maite Sabalza, Paul Christou & Teresa Capell

  2. Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Maite Sabalza

  3. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

    Paul Christou

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  1. Maite Sabalza
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Sabalza, M., Christou, P. & Capell, T. Recombinant plant-derived pharmaceutical proteins: current technical and economic bottlenecks. Biotechnol Lett 36, 2367–2379 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1621-3

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