Australian scientists are developing genetically modified plants containing drugs to treat life-threatening illnesses including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and HIV. David Craik of Queensland University and Marilyn Anderson of La Trobe University said "bio-drugs" would be less expensive, more effective and have fewer side effects than pharmaceutical drugs.
"Our work is discovering peptides, which are mini-proteins from plants, and then trying to redesign them as next-generation drugs," Craik told ABC Radio on October 14.
"We have a prostate cancer drug lead that we could put into sunflower seeds, for example, so that people wouldn't necessarily have to swallow tablets or capsules but could be having their prostate cancer drug as part of their diet," he said.