British and American Tobacco - CV19 vaccine

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Who would have thought a global pandemic respiratory disease might be cured by one of the worlds largest tobacco companies?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/01/british-american-tobacco-p...

What next? buying cigarettes in Boots?

 Timmd 01 Apr 2020
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

They don't want to lose their customer base?

Post edited at 14:03
 wintertree 01 Apr 2020
In reply to Timmd:

> They don't want to lose their customer base?

I suspect they’ll make more money growing antigens in their crop than cigarettes and it’s a growth market vs a terminally failing one.

I’d not heard of this platform before, sounds interesting.  The tobacco plant does seem to be quite versatile.

 jkarran 01 Apr 2020
In reply to wintertree:

Versatile and presumably very well studied after decades spent quietly looking for ways to prolong the smoking industry by making products less harmful and or more adicive/attractive. 

Jk

 SouthernSteve 01 Apr 2020
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

Institutes like the John Innes in Norfolk have been working on this type of plant expression of proteins for some time. I have often wondered what food could replace the acres of land used for tobacco, perhaps it will be drugs instead.

 Timmd 01 Apr 2020
In reply to wintertree: I was being tongue in cheek, I should have put a winky instead. Hopefully it will be helpful. 

 hang_about 01 Apr 2020
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

Plant molecular biologists like tobacco for this sort of GM work. It's easy to genetically engineer, grows quickly, produces big plants and can't survive outside in the UK so containment is less stringent. We'd never (ever) take money from a tobacco company to do any sort of work though.


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