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A "Green" Solution to High Drug Prices
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장바울
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2014-05-08 13:57:32, 조회 : 1,998 |
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A \"Green\" Solution to High Drug Prices
Growing up in India, molecular biologist Henry Daniell understood firsthand how costly and inaccessible medicines can be for patients in developing-world communities. Now a University of Pennsylvania professor of biochemistry and pathology, he has devised a way to use plant cells as drug-delivery systems. The solution cuts drugs’ costs and boosts their accessibility.
His method starts with modifying a single plant cell so that it will store the needed medicine. The cell multiplies and grows into a whole plant, such as lettuce, in which every cell stores the medicine. The human patient eats the plant and ingests the medicine with it—no needle needed.
Daniell’s plant-based delivery method eliminates many costly processes that medicine production typically requires, such as lengthy purification procedures and constant refrigeration. Furthermore, the output is huge: Daniell estimates that one acre of genetically modified tobacco plants could produce enough anthrax vaccine to immunize every person in the United States.
Daniell hopes to have treatments ready for distribution in three to five years. He’s got the backing of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and has signed contracts with two pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the University of Pennsylvania’s Innovation and Research Park on the South Bank includes a new greenhouse for growing his experimental plants.
He’s taking on a large problem: Drugs’ high costs deprive many people of care. Around one-third of the world population lives on $2 or less a day, whereas a diabetes medication may cost $300 a month, and a four-month cancer-drug therapy regimen could total $40,000. —Rick Docksai
Source: University of Pennsylvania. See also: \"Green Vaccines\" Katherine Unger Baillie, Penn Dental Medicine Journal.
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