In a first for European drug research, scientists have launched a clinical trial of an anti-HIV biotech medicine produced using genetically modified tobacco -- a plant better known for ruining human health, according to Reuters. The move marks an advance in the emerging field of molecular farming, which may offer a cheaper way of making complex biotech drugs and vaccines than traditional factory systems. Following a green light from regulators, the monoclonal antibody is being tested in a small study involving 11 healthy women in Britain. It is designed for use as a vaginal microbicide to prevent HIV transmission during sex. If the Phase I study is successful, larger trials will follow and researchers envisage the new antibody, P2G12, will be combined with others in a microbicide offering broad protection against HIV/AIDS. The trial is a milestone for the Pharma-Planta project which was launched in 2004 with 12 million euros ($16.8 million) of European Union funding. At the moment, costly antibody drugs, such as Roche's cancer treatments Herceptin and Avastin, are produced in cell cultures inside stainless steel tanks. Advocates of molecular farming believe such protein drugs could be made more efficiently and cheaply inside genetically modified (GM) crops, since plants are extremely cost-effective protein producers. Project co-ordinator Julian Ma, professor of molecular immunology at St George's, University of London, told reporters on Tuesday the green light for the trial was an acknowledgement that antibodies could be made in plants to the same quality as those made in factories. The antibody being tested was discovered by private Austrian biotech Polymun. -- SPA
