Recombinant Protein Drugs: A 2025 Update.
López-Laguna H, Parladé E, Favaro MTP, Palacín C, Voltà-Durán E
Medicinal Plants
Plant-based platforms are now being engineered to manufacture life-saving medicines, meaning the botanical world has quietly become part of the future of human health care.
Protein medicines—like insulin or antibody treatments—have gotten a major upgrade. Researchers can now build them to do multiple jobs at once, and they can be grown inside plant cells as well as bacteria or animal cells. The rules around approving these medicines are also catching up, so new treatments can reach patients faster.
Key Findings
Plant-based production platforms have emerged alongside microbial and mammalian systems as viable hosts for manufacturing complex recombinant protein therapeutics.
Next-generation protein formats—including bispecific antibodies, nanobodies, and self-assembling biomaterials—now target oncology, inflammation, and metabolic disorders.
Regulatory frameworks are actively adapting to accelerate approval of personalized and complex biologics, with decentralized manufacturing models beginning to emerge.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have developed a new generation of protein-based medicines that are more powerful and versatile than ever before, using advanced engineering and multiple types of living cells—including plant-based systems—to produce them more safely and at larger scales.
Abstract Preview
Over the past decade, recombinant protein therapeutics have moved from conventional biologics toward highly engineered, multifunctional versions. Enabled by innovations in synthetic biology, host c...
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