Smoking is still bad for you, but tobacco may have finally been redeemed.
Cigarettes cause a nearly endless amount of health problems--heart disease, lung cancer, and asthma are just a few of the more common issues triggered by the tobacco-filled sticks. But while cigarettes may have overwhelmingly negative health effects, don't write off tobacco entirely; the plant might just help protect people from HIV.
Pharma-Planta, a $17 million partnership between academics and industry in the EU, just got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a drug containing a monoclonal antibody that may prevent the spread of HIV--and it's produced from genetically modified tobacco plants. If successful, the drug will stop HIV transmission between male and female partners when topically applied to the vaginal cavity.
Why tobacco plants? Currently, biopharmaceuticals are made using fermentation vats filled with bacteria or mammalian cells. It's an incredibly expensive process that requires extensive processing and...
Cigarettes cause a nearly endless amount of health problems--heart disease, lung cancer, and asthma are just a few of the more common issues triggered by the tobacco-filled sticks. But while cigarettes may have overwhelmingly negative health effects, don't write off tobacco entirely; the plant might just help protect people from HIV.
Pharma-Planta, a $17 million partnership between academics and industry in the EU, just got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a drug containing a monoclonal antibody that may prevent the spread of HIV--and it's produced from genetically modified tobacco plants. If successful, the drug will stop HIV transmission between male and female partners when topically applied to the vaginal cavity.
Why tobacco plants? Currently, biopharmaceuticals are made using fermentation vats filled with bacteria or mammalian cells. It's an incredibly expensive process that requires extensive processing and...
- 7/21/2011
- by Ariel Schwartz
- Fast Company
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