Summer 2012
Senate invites PlantForm input
Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Chris Hall appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry May 31 to provide information about using plants to manufacture pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Hall outlined PlantForm’s progress to date in bringing biosimilar trastuzumab to market and developing additional antibody drug candidates.
The market for biosimilar drugs is “virtually untapped,” he told the committee. “About $100 billion in biologics lose patent protection from now till 2020, so there is a huge opportunity for us to come in and make biosimilar drugs… PlantForm's technology platform will substantially reduce the cost of goods to enter this marketplace.”
Dr. Hall noted that, while there is good support in Canada for early-stage research by companies, more could be done by governments and the private sector to help companies bridge the funding gap that many face during the product development and testing required to advance to commercialization.
Media coverage
PlantForm has received significant media attention over the last few months, including coverage on the front page of
The Globe and Mail (click to read), as well as in the
Guelph Mercury and the
Buffalo News.
Our tobacco plant manufacturing platform was also featured in a Government of Ontario video,
The Science of Life.
Upcoming Events
June 18-21
2012 BIO International Convention, Boston