Research project looks at GM plants

Published: 1-Sep-2004


A joint European research project has been given€12m in European Commission funding to perfect techniques for producing antibodies and vaccines from plants to prevent and treat major human diseases, such as AIDS, rabies and TB.

The project, involving 11 European countries and South Africa, plans to use genetically modified crops to produce its pharmaceuticals. The Pharma-Planta consortium is led by the Fraunhoefer Institute for molecular biology, in Aachen, Germany, and London's St George's Hospital Medical School. These co-ordinators want to start clinical trials by 2009.

EU research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said plant-related drug production would benefit from 'cross-disciplinary collaboration at European level'.

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