Question

Ventra Bioscience and the Controversy over Plant-Made Medicines study case. What do you think Ventria should do now, and why ? (about 1 page)

Ventria Bioscience and the Controversy over Plant-Made Medicines Ventria is dedicated to leading the development of plant-made pharmaceuticals that promise affordable human health products for the global community Scott Deeter, president and CEO, Ventria Bioscience It was a warm, sunny day in mid-July 2004-perfect conditions for growing rice in California's lushly irrigated Sacramento Valley. But their rice was not in the ground thought Scott Deeter with mounting frustration. Deeter was the president and CEO of Ventria Bioscience, a Sacramento, California-based biotechnology firm. The 20-person start-up had developed an innovative process to produce pharmaceutical proteins in the seeds of genetically modified rice. Ventria believed that its first product-a medicine designed to lessen the severity of childhood diarrhea-held great promise for public health, particularly in the developing world. The company had tested its bioengineered rice in small test plots near its headquarters. That spring, it had sought to plant at least 20 acres to begin commercial-scale production. But in its effort to obtain the necessary permits, Ventria had been stymied at nearly every turn.Facing vigorous opposition from environmentalists, food safety activists, consumer advocates, and rice farmers, the California Secretary of Agriculture had denied the company's request to plant rice on a commercial scale. Now Deeter had to figure out the best way forward for the fledgling venture capital-backed firm. ience Ventria Bioscience (originally called Applied Phytologics) was founded in 1993 by Dr. Raymond Rodriguez, a molecular biologist on the faculty of the University of California-Davis. In the early 1980s, Rodriguez and his graduate students had embarked on an ambitious research program aimed at improving the productivity of rice, a crop he recog nized as being of great importance to human nutrition worldwide. With the support of a state government grant to encourage the commercialization of basic scientific research, Rodriguez By Anne T.Lawrence.Copyright 2008 by the author. All rights reserved. An earlier version of this case was presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the North American Case Research Association. The author is grateful to Dr. Raymond Rodriguez for his assistance in the preparation of this case. The author also gratefully acknowledges research funding provided by the Don and Sally Lucas Foundation.