According to a new report by Persistence Market Research, worldwide revenue from the plant-based vaccines market was $ 1.3 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow rapidly to $3 billion by 2032.
Plant-based vaccines accounted for a market value of around $694 million in 2021. Although data for the full year of 2022 isn’t yet available, the report estimates the market’s value at year’s end is $1.3 billion. This is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8% to reach $3 billion within the next 10 years.
Overall, plant-based vaccine sales accounted for approximately 3.4% of revenue share in the global recombinant vaccines market, which was valued at around $38 billion in 2021.
“The global market for plant-based vaccines recorded a historic CAGR of 5.6% in the last 9 years from 2012 to 2021”, states the report. “Vaccines stimulate antibody synthesis in humans and animals, providing immunological protection against a variety of diseases. However, the lack of vaccines for the treatment of deadly diseases has posed concerns and directed global focus toward the development of safer, simpler, and more efficient vaccines.”
The report notes that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases demonstrated for the first time in 1998 that an edible vaccine using the concept of plants as bioreactors might create significant immunogenicity safely. “This technology may give a cheaper alternative for vaccine production because it is easy to handle and does not require elaborate storage, and it is cost-effective and simple to scale up for mass production. Furthermore, plant-based edible vaccines developed in this approach can offer a needleless, simple, and accessible mode of delivery.”
Currently the only plant-based vaccine approved is that for Newcastle disease vaccine for poultry. Although, plant-based vaccines “are not quite ready for humans in the primetime, there are a number of clinical trials ongoing.”
“Research in plant-based vaccine for influenza has seen some success in the past few years probably because the haemagglutinin (HA) protein can be well expressed in plants and can undergo proper post translational folding”, the authors of the report say. “Plant-based vaccines have several advantages including cheap and large scale production, readily accepted by patients and stable for long term storage of the antigen. Plant-based vaccines could be one of the best methods for reducing the burden of infectious diseases globally.”
Additionally, unlike traditional vaccines, “plant-based vaccines contamination with plant virus would have a negligible likelihood of adverse effect on humans. The positives of plant-based vaccines are outweighed by the negative factors such as allergic reactions, and risk of escaping the lab resulting in unforeseen consequences that may hinder the approval and growth of the plant-based vaccines market.”
The report found the following companies to be the key market players for the plant-based vaccine market:
Creative Biolabs
Medicago Inc.
iBio
ICON
EEA Consulting Engineers
Kentucky BioProcessing, Inc.
Baiya Phytopharm
Protalix Biotherapeutics
