Phyton Biotech announced an exclusive partnership with Agenus Inc. to develop an alternative manufacturing process for QS-21 to ensure a sustainable supply of this key vaccine ingredient. Agenus received a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a proof-of-concept study to manufacture QS-21 directly from plant cell cultures. The novel manufacturing process will be developed using Phyton Biotech’s unique Plant Cell Fermentation (PCF®) Technology platform, under an exclusive partnership with Agenus. The intended outcome of the R&D project is to demonstrate that PCF® is a feasible alternative model for the consistent, large-scale, low-cost and commercial production of high-quality QS-21, independent of any potential geo-political or environmental threats. QS-21 is a purified plant extract used as a potent adjuvant in various vaccines targeting infectious and endemic diseases in developing countries, such as malaria, and is currently under clinical evaluation as an adjuvant for numerous vaccine development candidates, including Agenus’ own cancer vaccines. The adjuvant boosts the effectiveness of vaccines by strengthening and broadening immune responses to a vaccine’s antigens. The current approach to producing QS-21 from natural sources involves extracting the compound from the soap bark tree (Quillaja saponaria), an evergreen species native to Chile. As demand increases for the potent saponin, over-exploitation of soap bark threatens the ecological sustainability and supply of Q. saponaria trees.