biopharming

Plants can be genetically modified to produce high-value pharmaceuticals, a practice called “biopharming.” Many of these "biopharmed" vaccines and other biologics do not require refrigeration, special handling, or sophisticated medical equipment to distribute them, making them ideal for middle and low-income countries. They are also cheaper to produce than our current methods and can help reduce the increasing costs of biologics. But these products have not yet entered the marketplace in part because of regulatory constraints.
In an opinion piece published in today s Wall Street Journal, Dr. Henry I. Miller, Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford s Hoover Institution and former ACSH trustee, discusses the significant benefit that biopharming can provide for the development of medicines if only regulators can become more tolerant.