Feature Story

An Ounce of Prevention

Revolutionary vaccine production system puts power of prevention to work

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in the battle to combat infectious disease innovative individuals have searched for and found new ways to provide that preventive ounce.

The latest innovation comes from scientists at Dow AgroSciences’ Animal Health division, who have discovered and developed innovative technology to improve vaccine production. This new technology is also being used to develop innovative vaccines for animals such as horses, dogs, cats, poultry, swine, and cattle.

On January 26, 2006, Dow AgroSciences received the world’s first regulatory approval for a plant-made vaccine from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Veterinary Biologics. This announcement was the first of its kind and holds great implications for future developments in the field of vaccine production.

Dow AgroSciences’ Concert™ Plant-Cell-Produced System represents a new category of plant-made vaccines that differ from traditional vaccines and other plant-made vaccines in many ways.

Most conventional vaccines are produced in animal cell cultures using blood serum or fertilized eggs. These vaccines use whole, live, or modified live viruses. This approach carries the risk of cross-contamination with other animal diseases, or of the virus in the vaccine itself being shed to infect other animals.

Plant-cell-produced vaccines contain no animal components, and therefore offer two important safety advantages over conventional vaccines developed from animal cells. First, by eliminating the use of blood serum and other animal-derived materials, there is no risk of transferring animal diseases via the vaccine. Second, plant-cell-produced vaccines use only the necessary parts of the disease-causing agent to stimulate immunity instead of live or whole, live or modified viruses. This eliminates the possibility of causing illness in the vaccinated animals or of the virus shedding and infecting other animals.

Concert Plant-Cell-Produced vaccines even eliminate the environmental concerns associated with other plant-made methods because the Concert™ System uses only plant cells — not the whole plant – to produce vaccines. The plant cells are grown in a culture medium comprised primarily of sugar, salt and water. No seeds are planted, no whole plants are grown and no pollen is produced, eliminating concerns about transfer of seed, pollen or plant parts into the environment. Instead, Dow AgroSciences’ plant-cell-produced vaccines are grown in stainless steel tanks in a bio-contained facility. Additionally, these cells are non-propogative, meaning they cannot grow outside the culture medium.

Plant-cell produced vaccines are highly stable and provide storage and handling advantages along with consistent performance. In short, plant-cell-produced vaccines have all the advantages of plant-made systems — but without the environmental concerns.

The potential benefits the Concert System can bring to our world are exciting! While Dow AgroSciences is currently using this new plant-cell-produced vaccine technology to develop innovative vaccines for animals, utilizing this revolutionary technology for human diseases is a real possibility.

Dow AgroSciences Animal Health: Contributing to the health and quality of the world’s population by putting the power of prevention to work.

For more information about Dow AgroSciences’ groundbreaking Concert Plant-Cell-Produced System, visit www.concertvaccines.com.

*®™ Trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC


		An Ounce of Prevention Revolutionary vaccine production system puts power of prevention to work An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in the battle to combat infectious disease innovative individuals have searched for and found new ways to provide that preventive ounce. The latest innovation comes from scientists at Dow AgroSciences’ Animal Health division, who have discovered and developed innovative technology to improve vaccine production. This new technology is also being used to develop innovative vaccines for animals such as horses, dogs, cats, poultry, swine, and cattle. On January 26, 2006, Dow AgroSciences received the world’s first regulatory approval for a plant-made vaccine from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Veterinary Biologics. This announcement was the first of its kind and holds great implications for future developments in the field of vaccine production. Dow AgroSciences’ Concert™ Plant-Cell-Produced System represents a new category of plant-made vaccines that differ from traditional vaccines and other plant-made vaccines in many ways. Most conventional vaccines are produced in animal cell cultures using blood serum or fertilized eggs. These vaccines use whole, live, or modified live viruses. This approach carries the risk of cross-contamination with other animal diseases, or of the virus in the vaccine itself being shed to infect other animals. Plant-cell-produced vaccines contain no animal components, and therefore offer two important safety advantages over conventional vaccines developed from animal cells. First, by eliminating the use of blood serum and other animal-derived materials, there is no risk of transferring animal diseases via the vaccine. Second, plant-cell-produced vaccines use only the necessary parts of the disease-causing agent to stimulate immunity instead of live or whole, live or modified viruses. This eliminates the possibility of causing illness in the vaccinated animals or of the virus shedding and infecting other animals. Concert Plant-Cell-Produced vaccines even eliminate the environmental concerns associated with other plant-made methods because the Concert™ System uses only plant cells — not the whole plant – to produce vaccines. The plant cells are grown in a culture medium comprised primarily of sugar, salt and water. No seeds are planted, no whole plants are grown and no pollen is produced, eliminating concerns about transfer of seed, pollen or plant parts into the environment. Instead, Dow AgroSciences’ plant-cell-produced vaccines are grown in stainless steel tanks in a bio-contained facility. Additionally, these cells are non-propogative, meaning they cannot grow outside the culture medium. Plant-cell produced vaccines are highly stable and provide storage and handling advantages along with consistent performance. In short, plant-cell-produced vaccines have all the advantages of plant-made systems — but without the environmental concerns. The potential benefits the Concert System can bring to our world are exciting! While Dow AgroSciences is currently using this new plant-cell-produced vaccine technology to develop innovative vaccines for animals, utilizing this revolutionary technology for human diseases is a real possibility. Dow AgroSciences Animal Health: Contributing to the health and quality of the world’s population by putting the power of prevention to work. For more information about Dow AgroSciences’ groundbreaking Concert Plant-Cell-Produced System, visit www.concertvaccines.com. *®™ Trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC
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