Towards the sustainable in-vitro production of plant derived anticancer compounds

One aspect which could explain the limited number of complex molecules entering clinical trials and reaching the patient is the restricted supply chain of the plant raw material, thus limiting the availability of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). Still today, most of the raw materials needed for the extraction of the active ingredients are harvested from cultivated or wild plant populations, posing a threat to the bioavailability of certain medicinal plants and strong variability in the yield of API. We have developed a new in-vitro propagation method based on the use of temporary immersion bioreactors that allows for the rapid and abundant generation of a leafy-biomass from medicinal plant cell cultures. Examples with tobacco and Hypericum perforatum will be described. This technology provides a unique opportunity for the sustainable production of complex APIs which require plant cell differentiation.