Research & Development > Leading Healthcare into the Next Century

Leading Healthcare into the Next Century

Through a revolutionary process developed by Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories, tobacco and other vegetable plants are being used to "grow" vaccines and other biomedical products that will fight some of our era's deadliest diseases, including HIV and cancer .

Perhaps more than any other recent medical advance, the discovery of vaccines has altered the face of the world. Today, 85 percent of the world's children are vaccinated against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio - all once life-threatening diseases.

Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories groundbreaking research has significant implications for world healthcare. These plant based "green vaccines" and related products - many of which are edible - are inexpensive to produce and administer and are virtually free of side effects . The need for growers, harvesters, and distributors of the bio-engineered plants could actually stimulate farming economies, and could take the uncertainty out of tobacco farming.

Extensive laboratory testing has already shown many of Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories plants products to be effective, including candidate vaccines for HIV and rabies and antibodies to fight colorectal cancer. As studies continue, the foundation is poised on the brink of an enormous medical breakthrough - one that could alter the face of the world of healthcare in the next century. The need for government and private support, as well as the opportunity for all sectors to play a part in this important research, are now greater than ever before.