Medicago Inc, a Quebec City-based biopharmaceutical company, received a patent from the European Patent Office (EPO) that gives the company sole right to produce flu vaccine-like particles in plants this week.
Medicago is a clinical-stage company that is developing vaccines for various infectious diseases using innovative techniques. Their plant-produced influenza VLP vaccine isn't only innovative – it could also help to combat outbreaks of new strains of flu.
Vaccine-like particles, or VLPs, are protein shells that have strands of proteins on their surface. The protein strands are disease-specific and can be designed to look like the virus of a number of different maladies. Since the VLPs have similar attributes to a virus, they can be used to make a vaccine in lieu of the inactivated viruses that are used today. VLPs also induce a stronger immune response than the current vaccines, and the immune system is able to ‘remember’ them for longer. Essentially, a VLP-based vaccine can be as effective (or more so) than virus-based vaccines, and they lack the infectious component that makes some people wary of vaccination.
Image via Shutterstock
Current techniques rely on cell culture, eggs, yeast or bacteria as protein-producers; however, these methods are complex and have major disadvantages. Using plants to produce these VLPs is a cost-effective and efficient way to harvest a large amount of protein.
Medicago originally applied for a patent titled “Influenza virus-like particles (VLPs) comprising hemagglutinin produced within a plant” in 2008, which would give it European patent coverage until July 2028. As of this week, the company has been granted that patent. The decision is set to be published on June 26 in the European Patent Bulletin.
VP of Business Development Frederic Ors says that the coverage the company gets from this patent “strengthens Medicago’s position as [they] expand the development of [their] influenza vaccine programmes.” He adds that the patent also underlines Medicago’s “competitive advantage with respect to the development of VLPs and other recombinant proteins in plants.”
Medicago currently has another 500 or more patents and patent applications in its portfolio, seeking protection in over 45 countries.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
