Ont. scientists using tobacco to replicate breast cancer drug

Beesie

"Tobacco has long been vilified as a deadly carcinogen – but after more than a decade of research, scientists in Guelph, Ont. are hoping the plant could lead to a cure for breast cancer.

They've altered tobacco plants to re-create a biologically similar (or "biosimilar") version of trastuzumab, an antibody more commonly known as the breast cancer drug Herceptin. Doctors say the medication, when used along with chemotherapy, reduces the risk of death from HER-2 positive breast cancer by 50 per cent.

PlantForm, a private Ontario company, makes antibody drugs from tobacco plants, and has licenced its technology to the University of Guelph. The company's chief scientific officer, Chris Hall, says the new product "is nearly identical to the drug Herceptin, except for a few sugars that might be slightly different. But its efficacy – in other words, how it works, etc. – is the same."

The report that I saw on the news today indicated that human clinical trials will be starting in a few months.

 Ontario scientists using tobacco to replicate common breast cancer drug

Pessa

Interesting.  Thank you.