PlantForm Corporation has been awarded a contract with the Government of Canada to create stable glyco-modified Nicotiana benthamiana plant lines for the production of pharmaceutical proteins and continued supply of recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) to Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).
The contract is valued at $831,600 and the period of the contract is from December 3, 2014 to March 31, 2017.
“Butyrylcholinesterase is an enzyme that has been developed as a bioscavenger to provide prophylactic protection against nerve agents, such as sarin gas,” said Dr. Don Stewart, PlantForm President and CEO. “We are pleased to use our vivoXPRESS™ biopharmaceutical manufacturing system to produce this enzyme in plants as a potential lower-cost alternative to plasma-derived BuChE.”
In 2013, PlantForm successfully completed a contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for research and development of recombinant BuChE production in plants.
