Icon Genetics GmbH: Plant bio-factories produce the medication of tomorrow

The Halle-based biotechnology company Icon Genetics specializes in the production of phar­mac­eu­­tical agents made in plants. The company, which is part of Bayer In­­no­­­va­tion GmbH since 2006, uses tobacco plants to produce high-quality proteins which could be used as anti-bodies in treating tumours. In this application, the plants are ex­­posed to so-called vacuum infiltration, through which the modified tobacco mosaic viruses take the blueprint for the medication into the cells. The desired protein then forms in the plants. This innovative procedure makes it possible to produce proteins considerably more quickly, cheaply and in larger quantities than before. Over 50 therapeutically effective proteins have al­­ready been ob­­tained at laboratory scale, in­­clu­­d­­ing hormones, vaccines and enzymes for technical applications. With the help of this magnIcon® tech­­no­logy, the Halle biochemists, together with Bayer, are pioneers in a field of re­­search which has a promising future and which will influence both pharmaceutical re­­search and plant biotechno­lo­gy in the long term.