Plant Host Systems: A Fresh Development in Protein Expression
Protein-based biologics include the major and fastest growing class of pharmaceutical products. At present, the majority of human biologics are produced in mammalian and microbial cell cultures. Biologics produced in cell cultures necessitate capital-intensive facilities, fermenters, affluent downstream processing, cold storage and transportation, and sterile delivery approaches. These limitations encourage the development of alternative production systems. Currently, a large number of plant-based proteins are being assessed in clinical phases of development, including vaccine candidates against COVID 19 and multiple rare therapeutic disorders. Plant expression platforms offer features beyond the traditional advantages, and eukaryotic protein modification. The method has a vast number of advantages like, increased safety, low manufacturing cost, flexibility and speed, host engineering, and oral delivery of drugs. Novel transient expression vectors have been established that allow the...