Page 313 - Binder2
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1. Cost Disruption

               The pharmaceutical industry is built on margin. Biologics,
               in particular, are among the most expensive drugs in the
               world—not because the active ingredient is inherently
               costly, but because of the infrastructure surrounding it.
               Every dose carries the weight of bioreactor facilities, cold-
               chain logistics, purification steps, sterile fill-finish systems,
               and regulatory compliance for injectables.

               Edible biologics collapse that pyramid.
               In plant-based systems, a therapeutic gene is inserted into a
               fast-growing plant like lettuce or rice. That plant becomes
               both the factory and the packaging. No fermenters. No
               centrifuges. No chromatography columns. The final
               product is a dried, encapsulated leaf powder—not a liquid
               biologic in a vial.

               That simplification drives cost of goods down by an order
               of magnitude or more. And with it, the justification for
               $10,000-per-month therapies starts to evaporate. Payers
               notice. Governments notice. And if the product works just
               as well, the industry’s entire pricing model starts to look
               like a house of cards.


               2. Delivery Disruption

               Most biologics are injections—administered
               subcutaneously at home or infused intravenously in clinics.
               That model carries not just cost, but friction: logistical
               complexity, training requirements, patient burden, and
               compliance risk.

               Edible biologics bypass all of it.

               Patients don’t need a nurse or a syringe. They don’t need to
               refrigerate their drug. They don’t even need to leave home.


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