HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 03-18 Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco-based vaccines MAPLEWOOD REVIEW2/8/2016 Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco -based vaccines I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Maplewood company
prepares to cultivate
tobacco -based vaccines
Submitted by admin1 on Wed, 03/18/2015 - 12:00am
By: Erin Hinrichs
Dave Roeser andJeff Reinert are partners in 0711harm,
Dave Roeser's patented 360 --degree orbiting garden des47n
conserves energy use by 70 percent, 7 he same technology
will be employed to grow tobacco plants at the newly
converted 0711harm greenhouse, (submitted photo)
Imagine having access to a seed bank for cancer treatments that would allow you to just go into a drawer and start growing a cure.
It's a lofty vision, but one that Jeff Reinert says is within the realm of possibilities for the newly converted MnPharm greenhouse in
Maplewood. Someday, Reinert says he foresees using tobacco plants to cultivate "targeted" vaccines.
Based on a biopsy from a cancer patient, he explains, he and his partner Dave Roeser could grow an antibody to fight a specific
cancer for that individual. He predicts it'd take about seven weeks to grow a vaccine from a seed, but less than a week to harvest it
from a plant that's been inoculated. That'd allow patients to better react to the cancer cells as they mutate.
http://www. bul I eti n-news.com/articles/2015/O3/18/m aplewood-com pany-prepares-cultivate-tobacco-based-vacci nes 1/5
2/8/2016 Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco -based vaccines I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
"We both have family members or friends who have been affected by cancer," Roeser says. "I lost my uncle last summer. There
were some treatments available in other countries that he couldn't get to. By us speeding this up, we think we're going to help solve
other people's problems [with cancer]."
Substituting plants for eggs
Roeser has long been growing vegetables at the Maplewood greenhouse for his award-winning company, Garden Fresh Farms.
While he'll continue to grow vegetables at an indoor facility in St. Paul, he's converting part of the
Maplewood greenhouse into a 6,000 -square -foot drug factory for his latest joint venture: MnPharm. This new company will use the
same energy-efficient growing technology to yield plant -based medicines and vaccines targeting new flu strains and possibly even
Ebola.
Currently, most vaccines for viruses like the flu are made using chicken eggs. The health community prepares for each flu season
by cultivating the anticipated strain in millions of eggs, then inactivating it and preparing it as a flu shot or nasal spray. The
process takes about six months. Although this process dates back more than 70 years, it's far from perfect. For instance, in 2004,
a serious flu vaccine shortage sent U.S. government officials into a state of panic and caught many Americans by surprise. At that
time, the nation was relying on only two major manufacturers to produce enough vaccines for the upcoming flu season. Chiron
Corp., one of the major vaccine plants — an American company based in England — failed to deliver nearly half of the needed
supply because a bacterial contamination killed its entire production.
Unable to close the supply gap in such a short period of time, health care workers were given strict instruction to ration supplies,
prioritizing those with the most vulnerable immune systems, including the elderly, infants and chronically ill.
"What we're doing here, it takes about six days," Roeser says, adding this quick turnaround would make identifying prevalent virus
strains less of a guessing game.
Plant practically a factory
In brief, growers at MnPharm inject the tobacco plants with the virus (the process of inoculation), programming the plants to
change their protein structure very quickly.
"It's like the plant turned into a factory," Roeser explains. "We put one thing in and it was a catalyst.
"Plants react to their environment. If you don't give it enough sun, it grows tall and spindly. If it has less water, it doesn't go into
seed. What we're doing is changing that environment to make the reaction that we want them to do."
In MnPharm's case, Roeser and Reinert are able to program tobacco plants to completely change their protein structure. Then
they refine the cultivated protein by either drying it, for oral consumption through livestock feed, or by extracting the oils from the
plant for a more sterile injection for humans.
Not only are plant -based vaccines desirable for their short lifecycles, they also eliminate the barrier of egg allergies.
"Getting away from using eggs to make any kind of a vaccine is a good thing because lots of people have egg allergies," says Dr.
Mark Schleiss, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Minnesota. "This will open up
the opportunity for, hopefully, a better vaccine that's easily produced, but also one that can be given to more people."
The fact that MnPharm's tobacco plants will be grown indoors, in a controlled environment, adds another layer of appeal.
2/5
2/8/2016 Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco -based vaccines I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Getting started with clinical trials
Since Mn Ph arm is a for-profit company with a stated social benefit—to advance plant -based medicines to address public
health challenges — the young company gained the legal status of a public benefit corporation, or PBC. This newly
implemented corporation status grants MnPharm the ability to prioritize not only maximizing profit for its shareholders, but
meeting its social goals as well.
"We might just want to spend a lot of our effort on the personalized medicine.... It might not be as profitable," Reinert says,
noting they'll maintain the authority to pursue "orphan drugs" that big pharmaceutical companies simply won't invest in
without risking being sued by their shareholders.
Before they're allowed to start scaling up to making human -based vaccines, however, MnPharm will need to provide proof of
concept. Roeser says they've initiated conversations with researchers at the Office for Technology Commercialization at the
University of Minnesota and hope to start production for clinical trials this spring.
"We're trying to position ourselves ... so we're a player when things get moving," Reinert says, adding there's a clear
advantage for researchers who are looking for ways to mass produce for clinical studies. "If you have to go back to the
drawing board, it's better to do it in a couple of days."
Raj Udupa, liaison for the office, says nothing has been finalized yet, but he's excited about the prospect of matching his
researchers up with MnPharm.
"The life cycle of a plant is relatively quick and the yields of the protein are great. This is very, very attractive," Udupa says.
Reinert says they're working on getting the first batch going so they have the proof of concept. With that, they can do some
manufacturing for different researchers until they get ahold of the licensing for other products they can start manufacturing.
Next, animals, then humans?
If all goes well, Udupa and the MnPharm co-founders agree that MnPharm's model could expand to using tobacco plants to
produce vaccines for animal and human use as well.
While talks are preliminary, Roeser says they're excited about the potential to get involved with a swine stomach cancer
research project at the University of Minnesota.
"if it works, the chances of making the leap into stopping human stomach cancer are pretty good," he says.
Reinert says getting licensure to produce plant -based vaccines for livestock would mark the second phase of development
for MnPharm. Looking at breaking into the human medicine market, he says they'll have to navigate more stringent
restrictions posed by the FDA.
"We're starting that movement, but we probably won't have anything that we ship out the door and turn a profit on for years,"
Roeser says.
In the interim, they'll focus on making their drug factory available to researchers who are looking to crank out batches of trial
vaccines that they're working to push through the FDA. At least until MnPharm can create a positive cash flow, Roeser
suspects this service will become MnPharm's financial bedrock.
As other growers and researchers across the nation race to bring vaccines to market in new ways, no comparable plant -
based drug facilities have yet been built in Minnesota.
http://www. bul I eti n-news.com/articles/20l 5/03/18/m aplewood-com pany-prepares-cultivate-tobacco-based-vacci nes 3/5
Q.TPOI11
Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco -based vaccines I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Surveying the field, however, Dr. Schleiss notes that MnPharm won't be the first company to use something other than eggs to
cultivate vaccines.
Baculovirus is a licensed flu influenza vaccine for humans that actually uses a recombinant insect virus produced in insect cells,
he says.
"What that tells you is the FDA is open to licensing new vaccines," he says. "Why not try recombinant proteins made in plants?"
Erin Hinrichs can be reached at 651-748-7814 and ehinrichs@lillienews.com. Follow her at twitter.com/EHinrichsNews.
Turning carcinogenic s c into a lifesaver
To create cell -based vaccines, growers inject a virus into live plant or animal tissues, making the culture a natural factory
for the virus' protein structure.
Finding an alternative to the chicken -egg -based vaccines we've had for decades would eliminate the allergy barrier
keeping egg -sensitive people from receiving vaccines.
Cell -based vaccines are less susceptible to bacterial contamination and other impurities.
Why tobacco? It costs much less to produce cell -based vaccines using tobacco than many other plant or animal cell type.
Cheaper production costs appeal to veterinarians and those raising livestock in need of vaccines.
And, from germination to oil extraction, tobacco -based vaccines can be produced much faster (in just six days)compared
to several weeks using other cell -based types.
Facing a repeat of the 2004 vaccine shortage? Just make a tobacco -based batch, and get to protecting lives. Rather than
relying on predictions made more than half a year in advance, the CDC and FDA could switch gears during flu season,
combating new virus strains with matching vaccine strains.
Tobacco plant -based vaccines may offer tailored treatment options for cancer patients.
Lettuce to lifesaving not the only big change for inventor
Dave Roeser, owner of Garden Fresh Foods, started out growing lettuce and other leafy crops year-round in his greenhouse in
Maplewood, where tanks full of fish generate all the fertilizer his plants need.
"I'm not a gardener or a farmer and I don't have very much patience for fishing ... but I put resources together and came up with an
award-winning company," Roese, a retired controller for Hewlett-Packard, says.
But the technology he's using may prove to be much more valuable — and gratifying, he says — than being able to stock grocery
store shelves with fresh, locally -grown food.
Focusing solely on tobacco plant production for MnPharm, the new company he co-founded with Jeff Reiner, Roeser has his sights
set on cultivating vaccines to combat the flu, along with other global health challenges, and possibly even cancer.
Granted the newly implemented legal status of a public benefit corporation, or PBC, MnPharm is uniquely positioned to pursue
production of both mainstream vaccines, as well as "orphan" drugs people need but which don't appeal to profit -driven
pharmaceutical companies.
http://www. bul I eti n-news.com/articles/2015/O3/18/m aplewood-com pany-prepares-cultivate-tobacco-based-vacci nes 4/5
2/8/2016 Maplewood company prepares to cultivate tobacco -based vaccines I Lillie Suburban Newspapers - LillieNews.com
Using the orbiting garden technology Roeser created and patented for Garden Fresh Farms, he and Rein ertwiII be able to
generate a 100 -to -1 output ratio against plants grown in outdoor farmland, using 90 percent less water than an outdoor
irrigated field.
"Genius over here just bent the circle, cutting energy use by 70 percent," Reinert says, giving Roeser credit for the design of
the circular growing lights used in the greenhouse. "That also multiplies the footprint."
He and Reinert are looking for investors who are equally passionate about supporting a venture that could transform health
outcomes for those who simply don't have the time to wait months between treatment options — whether it be addressing
another flu vaccine shortage or customizing a cancer treatment for one person.
Such investors will need to be patient, Roeser notes, because the payoff won't come immediately. But it may be measured in
other ways.
"Our [social benefit goal] is to advance plant -based medicine to address public health challenges," Roeser says.
http://www. bul I eti n-news.com/articles/20l 5/03/18/m aplewood-com pany-prepares-cultivate-tobacco-based-vacci nes 5/5