| |
WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL SOCIETAL BENEFITS OF PHARM AND INDUSTRIAL CROPS?
Companies have high hopes that their products will offer substantial societal benefits including lower drug prices for consumers, drugs unavailable any other way, new value-added products for farmers, and inexpensive vaccines for the developing world.
-
Lower drug prices
Expected savings on infrastructure and production costs lead companies producing pharm and industrial crops to predict drug prices 10 to 100 times lower than current prices. The cost of treating a patient with Fabry's disease, currently as much as $400,000 a year, for example, is predicted to drop to approximately $40,000 annually. Similarly, it is claimed that the leaves from only 26 tobacco plants could make enough glucocerebrosidase, currently one of the most expensive drugs in the world, to treat a patient with Gaucher's disease for a whole year.
-
Drugs unavailable any other way
Cheap production also means that drugs that could not be produced cheaply enough at high volume through conventional methods might become economically viable using genetically engineered crops. Monoclonal antibodies ("plantibodies") fall into this category. One company's idea for such a product is a monoclonal antibody against bacteria responsible for tooth decay, which could be used as a dental prophylactic. A topical therapeutic for herpes, as well as antibodies for the treatment of many other diseases, is also under development.
-
New value-added agricultural products
Although much about the arrangements between farmers and chemical and drug manufacturers remains unclear, these crops are being touted as a boon to farmers. Some companies, as they solicit contract growers, are promoting these crops as an economically viable alternative to commodity production of corn or tobacco with claims that their "partners realize improved returns relative to other production systems."
Inexpensive, easily delivered vaccines
Food plants engineered to contain pieces of disease agents can function as orally administered vaccines, avoiding the need for injection and syringes. Currently, tomatoes and other vegetables are under development for that purpose. Although the vaccines would still have to be standardized for dose and delivered to patients one at a time, the developers hope that the lower production costs and the convenience of avoiding refrigeration would make the products attractive to the developing world.
next section
back to the first page
|
