Taliglucerase alfa is a plant-derived enzyme that is currently (as of February 2011) in phase III clinical trials by Protalix and Pfizer

Pfizer

Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

. The enzyme is a recombinant glucocerebrosidase

Glucocerebrosidase

β-Glucocerebrosidase is an enzyme with glucosylceramidase activity that is needed to cleave, by hydrolysis, the beta-glucosidic linkage of the chemical glucocerebroside, an intermediate in glycolipid metabolism...

 used to treat Gaucher’s Disease

Gaucher's disease

Gaucher's disease is a genetic disease in which a fatty substance accumulates in cells and certain organs.Gaucher's disease is the most common of the lysosomal storage diseases. It is caused by a hereditary deficiency of the enzyme glucosylceramidase. The enzyme acts on the fatty acid...

. If it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

it will be first plant-made pharmaceutical. Expression of proteins in plant cell culture is highly efficient, does not require post-expression modification of the protein, and is not susceptible to contamination by agents such as viruses that are pathological to humans. Using transgenic carrot cells produces a lower cost alternative, and preclinical studies show that the enzyme was well tolerated by patients.