In research published in the March edition of Nature Biotechnology (volume 18, number 3, pages 333-338), Monsanto scientists have demonstrated how genetic engineering could potentially be used to lower the cost of production for some types of pharmaceuticals, which may help to lower the price of potentially life-saving new medicines in the future.

The research demonstrates that the genetic engineering of chloroplasts in plants is one potential
approach to producing pharmaceutical proteins more cost effectively than through conventional
means.

Plant cells have three types of subcellular compartments - called organelles - that possess genetic material, or DNA: the nucleus, the plastid and the mitochondrion. Commercially useful plant genetic engineering has focused on the insertion of genes into nuclear DNA. This new research from Monsanto is the first to demonstrate the potential for using the chloroplast - the most abundant plastid type found in leaves - for producing a pharmaceutical protein through genetic engineering.

"Conventional production means are costly, and what the genetic engineering of plastids may offer is a less expensive, more efficient way to produce important pharmaceutical proteins,'' said Jeffrey Staub, Manager of the Plastid Transformation Program for Monsanto and primary author of the Nature Biotechnology paper. "This, in turn, could eventually lead to lower-cost drugs that might help make such life-saving medicines more accessible to those who need them.''

The Monsanto research team produced human somatotropin, a hormone most often used to treat
hypopituitary dwarfism in children, in the chloroplasts of tobacco plants. Human somatotropin is
currently produced commercially through the use of genetically engineered bacteria, a conventional, but costly, approach widely used to produce certain types of pharmaceuticals.

"While research on genetic engineering of pharmaceutical proteins in plants is not new, the focus on chloroplasts is. This is the first therapeutic protein produced through genetic engineering of
chloroplasts,'' said Staub. "In this initial research, we have produced proteins in amounts more than 300-fold greater than obtained with traditional plant genetic engineering.''

"Taken together, our findings are a significant step forward. However, we recognize that this
research is preliminary and much more additional research remains before we know if this will be a commercially viable technology for the pharmaceutical industry.''

The initial research presented in the Nature Biotechnology article was conducted by Monsanto
Company scientists including scientists from a separate Monsanto business unit, Integrated Protein Technologies (IPT), that is using more advanced nuclear-based genetic engineering to create pharmaceutical drugs in plants.

The March edition of Nature Biotechnology will be available on newsstands March 1.

As a life sciences company, Monsanto is committed to finding solutions to the growing global needs for food and health by sharing common forms of science and technology among agriculture, nutrition and health. The company's 30,200 employees worldwide make and market high-value agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and food ingredients. 

Company news release
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