Protalix/Pfizer first in US with plant cell-based recombinant therapeutic protein

For Protalix BioTherapeutics and Pfizer, the US FDA's 1 May marketing clearance of Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa), an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for Gaucher disease, puts the firms in the record books for gaining the first US approval of a recombinant therapeutic protein made in a plant organism – carrot cells, to be exact.