Freeze-dried lettuce leaves are a surprising new source for shelf-stable drugs, report researchers.
Biopharmaceuticals, or drugs that are based on whole proteins, are expensive to make and require refrigeration to store. Insulin, for example, is unaffordable and inaccessible to most of the global population.
At the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, researchers have been working to overcome these obstacles by using a plant-based system to make shelf-stable drugs.