FINANCIAL TIMES, London
By Clive Cookson, Science Editor
The development of edible vaccines to replace painful jabs is set to take
a step forward today with the announcement of the first manufacturing
agreement for "pharmaceutical potatoes". Axis Genetics,
a private UK company, has commissioned American Ag-Tec International
to grow potatoes containing hepatitis B vaccine for clinical trials due to
start next year. At the same time, Axis has signed a research agreement
with Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York to continue development
work on the hepatitis vaccine.
The trials will start with volunteers eating bite-sized pieces of raw potato,
genetically engineered to make hepatitis B antigens. These stimulate the
human immune system to resist infection by the virus, which is a leading
cause of liver disease and cancer.
Later, Axis will use food processing technologies to convert the antigen-laden
potato into a form more palatable for human consumption. "I do not
anticipate that raw potato will be the material used to deliver the vaccine
to patients," said Iain Cubitt, chief executive of the Cambridge-based
company.
"By investing now, we will ensure compliance with production protocols
demanded by regulatory authorities. We want to ensure that no procedure in
the development chain holds back the commercialisation of these novel
vaccines."
The agreement with Axis is the first venture into the pharmaceutical sector by
American Ag-Tec, a private biotechnology company based in Wisconsin.
"It will raise the importance of the lowly potato by a quantum leap,"
said Robert Britt, president.
Besides hepatitis B, Axis and its research partners are developing edible plant
vaccines against several infections that enter the body through the stomach
and gut, including travellers' diarrhoea and cholera.
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