Sources inform ''Globes'' that that biotechnology start-up Collplant Ltd. is planning to shortly raise several million dollars in a private placement in order to subsequently hold a larger IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). Collplant is developing human collagen from tobacco plants.
Collplant, like Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (AMEX:PLX), is a graduate of Biomedix Incubator Ltd. (TASE:BMDX) subsidiary Meytav Technological Enterprises Innovation Center Ltd. Currently human collagen is produced either from the patient directly or from a living culture. Collplant has genetically engineered tobacco plants to express human five genes responsible for collagen production, creating a “biosimilar” collagen to human collagen.
Collplant executive chairman Efi Cohen-Arazi said, “Collagen production through cell cultures is rarely done because it is expensive and complicated. Two companies that tried this way both gave up. Collagen produced from corpses is usually old and unhealthy. Both collagen produced from corpses and from living tissue can cause an immune reaction, as well as diseases from which the donor suffered (such as Mad Cow Disease). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued guidelines to reduce the use of collegen produced from animals, in contrast to collagen originating from plants, which is young and healthy, and causes no infectious or immunological disease.”
Collagen has already developed the plants used to produce its human collagen, and it is now trying to improve the crop to grow without soil and in all weather conditions, as well as improving the collagen producing process from the plants. The company is also in negotiations to collaborate with companies for the production of collagen for various purposes, including wrinkle fillers, wound treatment, orthopedic treatment, and for teeth. If the company can sign contracts for its collagen, the partner will be responsible for most of the regulatory procedures for the final product.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 14, 2007
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