Mary Wilson
Well-known member
October 15, 2020 5:06 PM ET
JOE PALCA
Two biotech companies are using the tobacco plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, as bio-factories to produce a key protein from the coronavirus that can be used in a vaccine.
"There's obvious irony there," says James Figlar, executive vice president for research and development for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. Reynolds owns Kentucky BioProcessing, one of the companies working on a COVID-19 vaccine from plants.
"To all intents and purposes, it looks like a virus," says Bruce Clark, CEO of Medicago, a Canadian biotech company that's also using tobacco plants to make a vaccine.
Medicago has already begun testing its vaccine candidate in humans. Results from the initial studies are expected soon.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ontribute-key-ingredient-for-covid-19-vaccine
JOE PALCA
Two biotech companies are using the tobacco plant, Nicotiana benthamiana, as bio-factories to produce a key protein from the coronavirus that can be used in a vaccine.
"There's obvious irony there," says James Figlar, executive vice president for research and development for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. Reynolds owns Kentucky BioProcessing, one of the companies working on a COVID-19 vaccine from plants.
"To all intents and purposes, it looks like a virus," says Bruce Clark, CEO of Medicago, a Canadian biotech company that's also using tobacco plants to make a vaccine.
Medicago has already begun testing its vaccine candidate in humans. Results from the initial studies are expected soon.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ontribute-key-ingredient-for-covid-19-vaccine