Could an Ozempic-like medication soon be just another plant grown in your garden?

As the popularity of diabetes drugs like Ozempic skyrockets, creating shortages for the drug, one group of undergraduate students has created a new way to produce these drugs from plants. At the University of Ottawa, a group of students have developed a new biomanufacturing platform called Phytogene. It’s a sustainable and affordable alternative to synthesizing peptide-based pharmaceuticals using biopharming, a plant-based production system. The project aims to address shortages, inflated costs and improve treatment access around the world. Phytogene uses nicotiana benthamiana plants, a close relative to tobacco, to produce medicines like Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists, a class of drugs that include Ozempic. This method could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the chemical waste associated with traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing, the researchers suggest. The project started in late 2023, and involved 23 uOttawa undergraduate students across various faculties. They were guided by Adam Damry, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, and Allyson Maclean, associate professor in the Department of Biology.“Inspired by the recent Ozempic shortage, we built a proof-of-concept model system that expresses functional GLP-1 agonists in plants,” fourth year biotechnology and biomedical science student and team leader Victor Boddy said in a press release from the University. In that press release, co-team leader Teagan Thomas noted that “Phytogene offers a unique, sustainable approach to biotechnology by providing an environmentally friendly solution to the critical crisis of medication access.” The team also published an open-source biopharming toolkit on the iGEM Parts Registry, which will allow other researchers to build on their work. And while the extract hasn’t been tested on humans, the team has already won awards: they recently showcased their work at the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris, where they competed against over 400 international teams and earned a gold medal and placed among the top 5 teams within the biomanufacturing stream.As for next steps, the students are now analyzing blood glucose and insulin levels to assess response and plan to conduct bioactivity assays to test the drug's effectiveness on human cells. “We aim to create a future where people can reliably grow their own treatments at home, free from concerns about insurance, cost, or availability,” Boddy said in the press release.

Could an Ozempic-like medication soon be just another plant grown in your garden?

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