Dave Sanders, alphagalileo
March 18, 2005
www.innovations-report.com
Genetically modified (GM) plants are to be used to grow
vaccines for use in the worldwide fight against HIV,
tuberculosis, diabetes and rabies thanks to a grant of 12
million euros from the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
‘Pharma-Planta’ draws on the expertise and experience of 39
scientists from 11 European countries and South Africa to
address significant health problems affecting Europe and the
developing world - although the primary aim is to provide
medicines for poorer countries.
In the first international project of its kind,
‘Pharma-Planta’ will develop the concept from plant
modification through to clinical trials and they expect to begin
human trials of the drugs within four years.
“We are addressing the serious issue of global inequality of
health”, says scientific coordinator, Professor Julian Ma from
St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. “Although the
major burden of 21st century disease is in the developing world
we have to accept it as a global problem as these are the
countries that do not have access to vaccines.
“We know we can use GM technology to force a plant’s
molecular apparatus to produce a range of medically useful
compounds. Already genetic modification of other organisms is
being used to produce human insulin and a hepatitis B vaccine.
However, plant derived materials used in humans have never been
formally addressed within the EU. So, this is a ground-breaking
project that aims to provide help for the millions of people
that die each year throughout the world from vaccine preventable
diseases.”
Because plants are inexpensive to grow they could be used to
produce large quantities of drugs or vaccines at low cost -
anywhere between 10 and 100 times lower than conventional
production, which is often labour intensive, expensive and often
produces relatively small amounts of pharmaceuticals.
If the project is successful, the techniques would be licensed
to developing countries. They would then be able to start up
their own production to generate whatever amount they require at
a cost that would not impact greatly on the countries economy.
Although the project has not finally decided which plants will
be used, the likely candidates are tobacco or maize.
“The ‘Pharma-Planta’ project is an excellent example of
how EU Framework Funding is being used to help research and
development projects that will have a major impact on the
everyday lives of people both in Europe and around the world”,
says Claire Horton FP6UK’s National Contact Point for ’Life
sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health. “This funding
helps bring together experts from different countries to work
together in the fight against diseases that can affect us all.
“The current Framework Programme (FP6) runs until 2006 and
organisations wanting free information on how to access some of
the 19 billion euros available should log on to
http://fp6uk.ost.gov.uk or call central telephone support on
0870 600 6080.”
Weitere Informationen finden Sie im WWW: http://fp6uk.ost.gov.uk
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/agricultural_sciences/report-41975.html
