Should a disruptive protein production technology emerge, the current interest in developing large-molecule therapeutics assures there would be many takers.

Inserting foreign genes into chloroplasts--the compartments within plant cells where photosynthesis occurs--may have significant advantages over other transgenics technologies for producing therapeutic proteins. Chlorogen Inc. believes its proprietary chloroplast transformation technology will make the St. Louis start-up a player in the protein production arena.

Genetic engineering is giving a new meaning to the term "manufacturing plant" as the biotechnology industry looks to potatoes, corn, tobacco, and other crops to provide cheap manufacturing sources for therapeutic The lack of capacity for the cost-effective manufacture of protein-based pharmaceuticals will soon cause a significant bottleneck at pharmaceutical companies, one that threatens to impede the progress of therapeutics at all stages of development, from the preclinical stage to commercialization. Today, companies are faced with the limited options of either queuing up for outsourced manufacturing, or investing hundreds of millions of dollars in their own production capacity well before they know that a product will succeed. A bumper crop of new companies is therefore poised to take advantage of the manufacturing capabilities of plants that have been genetically engineered to produce human proteins.