OTTAWA, 20 July 2006 - Almost a century after two Canadians first discovered insulin, a Canadian company claimed a breakthrough on Wednesday in commercial production of the hormone from genetically modified safflower plants.
The development is expected to make the drug cheaper to make and thus more widely available for diabetics around the world, said SemBioSys Genetics' chief executive Andrew Baum.
"Diabetes is an explosive disease around the world. There is a lot more people requiring insulin," he said. "We believe our technology will be able to meet greater demand on the world market."
At present, pharmaceutical companies use genetically engineered bacteria and yeast to produce synthetic insulin in vats. Previously, insulin was extracted from pigs.
But SemBioSys said it has found a way to genetically manipulate seed oils to make proteins for use in drugs or foods.
Its scientists inserted a human insulin gene into a safflower plant - which is similar to the sunflower - and recovered human insulin from the seeds once the plant had matured.
The company says it can now produce more than one kilogram of human insulin per acre (0.4 hectares) of safflower planted - enough to treat 2,500 diabetic patients.
"We believe that we can reduce capital cost (of manufacturing insulin) by a minimum of 70 per cent and we can reduce cost of goods by a minimum of 40 per cent and potentially substantially more," Baum said.
SemBioSys, however, must still prove that its insulin is safe and demonstrate that it works as well as any insulin currently on the market to control blood glucose levels.
As well, the small firm must secure substantial financing to market its technology.
Animal tests are expected to be completed by the end of the year, followed by human clinical trials in 2007 and 2008, Baum said.
If all goes well, SemBioSys' insulin could hit pharmacy shelves by 2010, the company said.
There are more than 175 million diabetes sufferers in the world, according to the World Health Organisation, and that figure is expected to double by 2030, with increasingly global obesity.
Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin in 1921.
