Australia's first 'biopharm' set to develop biologics

Queensland University of Technology has taken a critical step towards establishing Australia’s first ‘biopharm’ to make life-saving medicines and vaccines in plants.

A $4 million project aims to develop a new biologic treatment for a potentially deadly parasite that preys on people and livestock worldwide.

Biologics are large, complicated molecules that can only be made using living organisms. Currently, Australia’s capacity to produce biologics is limited by the high infrastructure and operating costs of traditional manufacturing systems.

However, a QUT-industry research team is poised to change this, by introducing a suite of advanced and disruptive technologies that will allow biologic therapeutic proteins to be made rapidly, affordably and at scale, using Australian plants.

According to project co-leader Professor Martin Sillence, this innovation could add significantly to Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capacity, by providing small to medium enterprises with a means to enter the global biologics market, which is currently dominated by a few industry giants.

The project has been made possible through a collaboration between QUT, Sydney-based International Animal Health Products (IAHP) and Cytiva — who specialise in protein purification.

Together, the team is set to embark on a $4 million research project to develop Australia’s first plant-based biologic medicine. The product will be targeted at the animal health sector and aimed at controlling potentially fatal parasitic worms.

Not only do these parasites have a devastating effect on livestock industries, costing Australia up to $530 million in lost productivity, they also affect approximately two billion of the world’s most underprivileged people, and they are especially harmful in children.

The three-year project will be led by IAHP and funded in part through a Federal Government Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Project grant awarded to IAHP.

Professors Sillence and Peter Waterhouse lead the QUT research team, with Associate Professor Melody de Laat, Dr Julia Bally, Dr Zach Le Blanc and Dr Kathi Holt.

“Not only is this a potential breakthrough in advanced manufacturing, it is also a step towards addressing a critical health issue, as chemical treatments have been the only available control measure for parasites, and after 80 years of use they are rapidly becoming ineffective due to parasite resistance,” Sillence said.

“We are particularly excited about working with IAHP, the first company in the world to bring a biologic control for grazing animals to the market.”

IAHP’s BioWorma was developed in collaboration with the CSIRO and is based on using a natural fungus to control infective worm larvae.

The current project aims at producing a natural protein that can be administered directly to livestock, and potentially to humans.

Professor Peter Waterhouse, an ARC Laureate Research Fellow and program leader at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, has been researching plant genetics and genomics for more than 40 years, and his team has pioneered several important advances.

“Biopharming has been a niche technology for producing biologics since the 1990s, but the technology has only really taken off since the pandemic,” Waterhouse said.

“Now, several biopharms overseas are commercialising plant-based vaccines, diagnostic tests and other treatments.

“Given that these companies all use an Australian plant to make their products, it’s about time that Australia caught up.

“Not least, because at QUT we now have a suite of advanced biopharming techniques which promise to increase product yields and reduce production costs markedly.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Ulrike Leone