Out of 391,000 plants known to a man, approximately 18,000 have documented medicinal effect and only 150 are cultivated industrially. Their active principles (or compounds) are extracted from the plants with special solvents.
The production of such compounds from plants cultivated by horticultural means or harvested in the wild is not sufficient to meet the growing market demand. Worse, harvesting of wild plants in many cases poses a significant threat to various species and to their ecosystem, as overharvesting can decrease stocks of the plant and lessen the biodiversity of the area.
For example, this growing demand has driven up prices of wild ginseng and attracted poachers. Illegal harvesting of wild American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) has become a significant issue in the USA. It is estimated that 90% of the ginseng harvested in the wild is obtained illegally. Biologists have already expressed concerns over the plant’s possible extinction. Similarly, populations of other plant species such as snakeroot (Rauvolfia serpentina) and devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens) have declined due to over-collection to supply medicinal markets.
Plant roots provide many of the key active compounds found in nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food additives and other products. With Rhizomia bioreactors we can deliver the highest quality root cultures, leading the way for sustainable low cost in-vitro production of roots such as Panax ginseng and many others.
New sustainable production methods revolve around in-vitro cultivation in bioreactors. However, the main limiting factor is the plant biomass growth rate (e.g. state-of-the-art bubble column bioreactors only reach a doubling time of 20-30 days for ginseng roots). Existing bioreactors are unable to produce sufficient amounts of biomass and active molecules at economically attractive speeds, except for rare applications with a very high added value (e.g. expensive pharmaceuticals).
Existing root bioreactors in the most cases were designed by pharmaceutical engineers without cost constraints as they targeted high value applications. Our objective is to develop a low-cost bioreactor compatible with high-volume production where costs can be reduced by a factor X to target lower value applications such as nutraceuticals (nutritional products).
With Rhizomia we can supply higher quality dry ginseng matter with no pesticides, below or at the current market prices and with stable content & other chemical properties during any season.
