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Posted on 05/08/2025 12:38:15 PM PDT by Red Badger
Up in Canada, students have developed an incredible new way to synthesize drugs on plants — and they're using Ozempic as their test case.
In a press release, the University of Ottowa revealed that some of its undergraduate students have invented a process that they're calling "Phytogene" turn tobacco cousin Nicotiana benthamiana into a pharmaceutical factory for the popular weight-loss drug.
Though it could have lots of use cases in the future, Phytogene's first order of business is synthesizing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists — the class of medications Novo Nordisk's Ozempic belongs to — which mimic the stomach's feeling of fullness to help patients lose weight and lower their blood sugar.
Building on so-called "biopharming," or the process of genetically engineering plants to produce pharmaceutical proteins, the group led by bioscience students Victor Boddy and Teagan Thomas was inspired by the recent Ozempic shortage to uncover sustainable and inexpensive alternatives.
"We aim to create a future where people can reliably grow their own treatments at home," Boddy said, "free from concerns about insurance, cost, or availability."
While the nascent field of biopharming has had some success in creating vaccines and cancer treatments with the help of transgenic plants, none have been able to synthesize anything as popular as semaglutide or other GLP-1 drugs. According to a KFF poll released last year, a whopping 12 percent of Americans have taken some form of GLP-1 drug. As such, increasing access to these blockbuster drugs, which are costly and often not covered by insurance, could be a massive breakthrough.
On their award-winning "Phytogene" website, the U Ottowa students explained that essentially, the N. benthamiana plant acts as a copy machine for whatever genetic sequence they plug into it.
"With our 'plug-and-play' design, we can incorporate any peptide sequence into the plant genome," the site detailed. "The plant’s molecular machinery then transcribes and translates our peptide in impressive quantities."
Though the team was successful in "biopharming" GLP-1s on plants, they noted in the school's press release that the resulting compound hasn't yet been tested on humans.
"We are currently analyzing blood glucose and insulin levels to assess response," said Thomas, one of the project's coleaders. "We also plan to conduct bioactivity assays to test the drug's effectiveness on human cells."
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Smoking used to be the “secret” way young teen girls used to keep off weight.
The safety studies on this will be a doozy. First, they will have to determine the dosage density in what they grow, and I’ll bet it won’t be linear.
Un oh.
Here come the Cocaine Tomatoes.
Smoking was an immediate disqualifier for my choices in dating. I took a pass on a lot of "hotties".
Just get a pet Gila Monster. Ozempic all day long.
“If she smokes, she pokes.”
AND..... there goes our food supply.
God knows what it will be contaminated with once it gets into the gene pool.
Check
My ex is probably trying to figure out how to grow her own Prozac. LOL
It worked.
Hadn't heard that one before.
Don't think that expression ever made it north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Kinda sounds like something Bubba Clinton might say.
Purslane - an edible weed - seems to have naturally occurring GLP-1
“Smoking was an immediate disqualifier for my choices in dating.”
No kidding. The foul ash trays at home were bad enough. Didn’t want to be next to someone who stunk worse than an ash tray.
A good buddy doctor of mine (now deceased) said we should put Prozac in the water supply. He also used to bum cigarettes from me after my appointments.🤪
Both of my parents smoked. They would give dramamine to me and my sister before traveling. It wasn't motion sickness. It was gagging on the stench of the tobacco in the car. At age 4 I hoped I would smell like that when I grew up. I finally made the connection between the stench and the smoking. Mom finally quit in 1967, but still died from lunch cancer (both lungs) in 2011.
Insulin too....doesn’t make it safe.
There was NOTHING worse than being cooped up in the car with both parents smoking. It was awful. We took long summer cross country trips in the 50s and 60s to visit relatives. As much as I enjoyed the trips, enduring that smoke was awful.
Dad quit in the mid 60s and mom quit about the same time. Dad’s dad died in December 1969 and Dad picked up ONE cigarette at the funeral. Then he smoked another ten years before quitting for good. Neither mom or dad died from lung cancer, fortunately.
Cocaine tomatoes?
LMAO.
Actually I know a woman who lost half her body weight with Ozempic. When I first saw her, I had no idea who she was. Very pretty woman under all that fat. I’m underweight, glad I don’t have to spend a lot of $$$ to look good. At least, good for my advanced age.
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