PlantForm Corporation, a company specializing in tobacco-plant-based biomanufacturing based in Gueleph, Ontario, and PharmaPraxis, a biopharmaceutical company based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have established a joint venture to develop, manufacture, and commercialize biosimilar and/or biobetter versions of six biopharmaceuticals for the Brazilian market using PlantForm’s manufacturing system.

The joint venture will first develop a biosimilar/biobetter version of the anticancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biology in Newark, Delaware, which will produce the active pharmaceutical ingredient for clinical trials. The joint venture will build a cGMP biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Brazil.

The Brazilian government corporation, Bio-Manguinhos, will also participate in the project. Bio-Manguinhos is responsible for the technology development and production of vaccines, reagents, and biopharmaceuticals for public health demands in Brazil.

PlantForm was established in 2008 to commercialize its tobacco-plant-based biomanufacturing system for the production of a antibody and protein drugs. PlantForm licenses its technology from the University of Guelph, where it was developed by Dr. J. Christopher Hall, the Canada Research Chair in Recombinant Antibody Technology. Hall is a PlantForm founder and the company's chief scientific officer.

Source: PlantForm