
Authorized by Health Canada
Our first vaccine manufactured in plants is approved.
Vaccines are developed in many different ways, all of which use a non-infectious version of a virus or disease antigen intended to trigger an immune response to a virus or disease. The body is then conditioned to defend itself against encounters with the virus or disease.
In our vaccine development process, living plants are used as bioreactors to produce a particle that mimics the target virus.
Our platform is designed to produce both vaccines and antibodies.
Once a virus has been genetically sequenced, Medicago uses its Proficia® technology to synthesize the virus’s code so that its genetic instructions can be “read” by plants.
The Proficia® technology developed by Medicago uses Nicotiana benthamiana plants, which is the most widely used experimental host in plant virology, due mainly to the large number of viruses that can successfully infect it. The natural cell process of Nicotiana benthamiana is therefore temporarily exploited to produce virus-like particles (VLPs).
i Vaccines Europe . How are vaccines produced?. Accessed September 2021.
ii Bally, J et al. Nature Plants. The extremophile Nicotiana benthamiana has traded viral defence for early vigour. Accessed September 2021.