Ukraine looks to plants to reduce drug imports

The government of Ukraine is turning to new plant-based biopharmaceutical technologies in an attempt to reduce the overall cost and development time of commercial drug manufacture. It has signed a letter of intent with two foreign biotechnology companies to enable domestic development of plant-derived biopharmaceuticals for eventual sale in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Large Scale Biology Corporation (LSBC), of Vacaville in California, and Icon Genetics, of Munich, Germany, will work with Ukrainian scientists to produce specific biologics in living plants with the aid of LSBC and Icon proprietary technologies. In the future, participation may be expanded to include one or more Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies.

Ukrainian scientists would use Icon's transgenic plant technology to develop the plants producing the pharmaceutical proteins, while LSBC's downstream processing technology and biomanufacturing expertise would be used for commercial-scale pharmaceutical-grade production.

Ukrainian vice prime minister Dr Volodymyr Seminozhenko, said: 'We are very worried about the high cost of therapeutic medicine and about our dependence on imports in this area. After analysis of all aspects of the problems, the Government intends to address those issues by relying on the most advanced technologies for the production of biopharmaceuticals.'

'This joint effort with Ukraine further demonstrates the breadth of international opportunities in biotechnology today and the strength of LSBC in addressing global biopharmaceutical demands,' said Robert L. Erwin, ceo of LSBC.