Interesting news were announced recently by GE Healthcare and iBio Inc. who formed a global alliance in order to commercialize plant-based technologies for the production of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.
IBio brings into the deal its innovative iBioLaunch plant-based vaccine manufacturing platform, whereas GE Healthcare brings its own expertise on start-to-finish biopharmaceutical manufacturing. According to iBio, a protein of interest could be generated within 3 weeks, cutting down significantly on development costs.
IBio's stock is currently (1st of August 2012) trading at USD 1.15, down ~27% from USD 1.58 on 26th of July, the day of the announcement of the deal with GE Healthcare, so it could be a good opportunity to go long on it. An interesting company to follow more closely going forward, especially since the recent FDA approval of Elelyso (Pfizer) which is used for enzyme replacement therapy of Type 1 Gaucher disease and is produced in plant cells (the very first drug produced through bio-pharming to be approved by the FDA). Should iBio's platform work as expected there will be some good news coming from the company; at least that is what GE Healthcare believes.