PlantForm’s plant-produced antibodies demonstrate neutralizing activity against Ebola Sudan
Testing by U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases shows PlantForm antibodies work as well as antibodies produced in other systems
GUELPH, Ont., CANADA, June 11, 2015—Antibodies produced using PlantForm Corporation’s vivoXPRESS™ biopharmaceutical manufacturing system have been shown to neutralize the Sudan strain of Ebola as well as antibodies produced by other systems, according to analyses performed by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
The antibodies were produced in N. benthamiana (tobacco) plants in a feasibility study that received financial support and technical advisory services from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). USAMRIID conducted in vivo binding and viral neutralization assays on the resulting material.
“We are very pleased that our vivoXPRESS™ platform has once again demonstrated its viability and versatility for antibody and protein production,” said Dr. Don Stewart, PlantForm President and CEO. “We are exploring the potential for further collaboration with USAMRIID to develop a therapeutic Ebola Sudan antibody cocktail, as there are currently no drugs available to specifically protect against or treat this strain of the disease.”
The Sudan strain of Ebola was responsible for the first-known outbreak of the disease in 1976. The current, and largest, outbreak of the disease is due to another strain of Ebola virus, the Zaire strain, which has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa to date.
PlantForm was established in 2008 to commercialize a low-cost, tobacco-plant-based manufacturing system for biopharmaceutical production. The vivoXPRESS™ platform technology, which has been issued two U.S. patents to date, provides high drug expression levels and will lower the cost of goods by as much as 90 per cent compared to mammalian-cell production systems. The company’s pipeline includes biosimilar Herceptin® (trastuzumab), innovator antibodies for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, and recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), an enzyme developed as a bioscavenger to protect against nerve agents such as sarin gas. Learn more about PlantForm Corporation's products.
About U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)
USAMRIID’s mission is to provide leading edge medical capabilities to deter and defend against current and emerging biological threat agents. Research conducted at USAMRIID leads to medical solutions—vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and information—that benefit both military personnel and civilians. The Institute plays a key role as the lead military medical research laboratory for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
-end-
For more information, please contact:
Disclaimer
The information contained in this press release does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the United States Government and no official endorsement should be inferred.