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Bio-Pharming
Some of the newest and most effective drugs that combat illnesses
like cancer and heart disease are made from proteins --  complex
compounds that can only be synthesized by the cells of living organisms.
These proteins, called “biologics”, are currently manufactured
in expensive, sterile fermentation facilities where cultures of
mammalian cells or micro-organisms are brewed in stainless steel
tanks. Now, by applying the tools of biotechnology to commercial
crops such as tobacco or corn, plants are being developed that could
produce these medicinal compounds.
Producing pharmaceutical products using plants has been a target
of scientific research for about 20 years, bridging the fields of
molecular biology, medicine, and agriculture. Engineering such specialized
“pharm” crops represents the newest wave of agricultural
biotechnology, and growing these crops is being called “bio-pharming”.
(The first wave of biotechnology applied to modern agriculture gave
plants new traits that allow farming to be more efficient. These
genetically engineered crops -- mostly corn, cotton, and soybeans
-- have been modified to  contain
built-in resistance to insects or herbicides, and have been adopted
widely by farmers in the U.S.)
Bio-pharming has the potential to change the drug producing industry
by enabling new, and larger quantities of medicines to be manufactured
more cheaply. While no plant-made pharmaceuticals are currently
on the market, the sentiment among the research community is that
this barrier will be broken within the next five to ten years.
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