Realising the value of plant molecular pharming to benefit the poor in developing countries and emerging economies

Molecular Pharming, the production of recombinant pharmaceuticals through plant biotechnology, has the potential to transform the biologics sector of the pharmaceutical industry. More fascinating however, is how it might be used to improve access to modern medicines, and improve health of the poor in developing countries and emerging economies. Although improving global health through molecular pharming has been discussed for at least two decades, little progress has actually been made. In this manuscript, a four point plan is described to maximise the opportunity for molecular pharming to provide solutions. These are (i) to identify and prioritise important drug targets that are relevant to the poor; (ii) to support research and development partners in low to middle income countries to develop local expertise, transfer technology and build capacity; (iii) to increase collaboration between regulatory bodies to enable national regulatory frameworks to be developed in low to middle income countries; and (iv) to promote intellectual property management approaches that include socially responsible licensing. An existing case study is described to illustrate how this might be achieved.

This work was supported by the European COST Action on Molecular Farming (FA804), the EU FP7 project—Access to Pharmaceuticals (ATP) and the ERC Future-Pharma Project. Julian Ma’s research group is also grateful to The Hotung Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wellcome Trust. Research at the Universitat de Lleida is supported by MICINN, Spain (BIO2011-23324; BIO02011-22525; BIO2012-35359; PIM2010PKB-00746); EU FP7 project SmartCell; EU Framework 7 ERC IDEAS Advanced Grant -BIOFORCE; Research at EMBRAPA is supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Fundacao de Apoio a Pesquisa and Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazil. Work at Bharathiar University is supported by UKIERI, DST-FIST, UGC-SAP.