Audience

There are many groups that are potentially impacted by the products of Molecular Farming. These stakeholder groups may consist of: industry (e.g. pharmaceutical companies and/or healthcare providers); government (legislators, lawmakers, and regulators); producers (e.g. local farmers involved/not involved in local PMFs); end-users (e.g. clinicians, patients).

Advances in GM technology in Europe have struggled with low public acceptance since the commercialisation of GM food two decades ago; importantly, this public reluctance has influenced regulations and limited commercialisation of all GM technologies.

In Pharma-Factory, we will use qualitative methods such as interviews and co-design workshops to determine the nuances and contingencies of positive/negative opinions of plant molecular farming end products and methods of production.

Disclaimer for Public Engagement and Involvement Activities

As part of our work on public engagement and involvement, Pharma Factory researchers may propose speculative and provocative embodiments of the technologies and / or products of Molecular Farming. We do this to better understand which aspects of Molecular Farming might carry the most value for each of our diverse stakeholder groups and elicit discussion for those different groups. Our use of ‘provocations’ should not be seen as advocating the use of Molecular Farming to circumvent or otherwise disregard existing laws and regulations surrounding the production, licensing and sale of medicines or any other products of biological processes. A significant part of the work performed in Pharma Factory is designed to facilitate compliance through early engagement with the relevant regulatory authorities for each product under development and to engage users in these technologies in meaningful ways.