Award Description

The industry is discovering solutions to the world’s pressing challenges. There is a paradigm shift underway where we require new ways to feed and fuel a growing world demand. This category will recognize nominees who have reached milestones such as discovery, investment, regulatory, development, market access, or unique business model.

Roberto Bellini (2023)

Medicago Inc. Proficia (2014)

To effectively respond to emerging diseases, the ability to rapidly produce vaccines or therapeutic antibodies in the face of an outbreak such as pandemic influenza is critical. Medicago has developed the Proficia™ technology, a proprietary alternative to current egg-based and cell production systems. Using whole living plants as hosts, our Proficia™ technology is a rapid, flexible, high yielding and robust vaccine and antibody production system. A major advantage of this system based on transient protein expression in plant leaves is unmatched speed. Vaccine production can be initiated within less than three weeks from the identification of the genetic sequence from a pandemic or seasonal influenza strain.