Novoplant

Novoplant was a German biotechnology company that specialized in "molecular farming," the use of genetically modified plants to produce high-value recombinant proteins. Founded as a spin-off from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), the company utilized plants such as tobacco and peas as bioreactors to manufacture biopharmaceuticals. Their technology platform was designed to produce antibodies and vaccines more cost-effectively and at a larger scale than traditional mammalian cell culture methods. Key pipeline projects included an oral vaccine for porcine circovirus in pigs and therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Although the company is no longer active, it was a pioneer in the field of plant-derived therapeutic proteins in Europe.