Harvard University has invited Botanical Solution Inc. (BSI) CEO Gaston Salinas, (BSI), to speak at its upcoming seminar on Global Health, Biodiversity and Therapeutics, to be held Friday, June 9, 2023. Mr. Salinas will present, “Exploiting the plant Quillaja saponaria as a source of therapeutic compounds – discovery and industrial production”.
This public seminar will address opportunities for developing new therapeutics from Latin America’s biological ecology. Latin America holds enormous potential to provide therapeutic natural drug products. Scientists have shown that natural compounds from endemic plants, fungi and animals in both terrestrial and marine offer promising pathways for the discovery of new medicines, such as antivirals and antibiotics.
BSI has developed the world’s first scalable and truly sustainable production system for QS-21, a Gold Standard vaccine adjuvant and critical component of a blockbuster Shingles vaccine, a recent FDA approved RSV vaccine and the only Malaria vaccine approved by WHO to date. Deforestation regulations have restricted the cutting of Quillaja saponaria trees, which are the traditional raw material for extracting and purifying QS-21, creating supply barriers which have driven the cost up to approximately $400,000 per gram.
According to CEO Gaston Salinas, “I am really excited about this invitation to present our work on removing barriers to produce the gold standard vaccine adjuvant QS-21 from a truly sustainable source at Harvard. BSI is accelerating the development of GMP QS-21 at kilo scale, by partnering with market leaders. We see great potential for the power of natural, botanical-based products to advance sustainable human health for the future.”
