ABSTRACT
Production of secondary metabolites by means of plant cell, tissue, or organ cultures originated in 1947, when James reported the occurrence of alkaloids in meristem cultures of solanaceaeous plants. The innovation was interesting because cell cultures in a bioreactor facilitates better production control than possible with plant material from agricultural sources. The production is susceptible to unpredictable factors like climate, plant diseases, or transport problems. Development of a large-scale bioprocess is only justified by a sound economic basis for production. The greatest effort has been invested in the development of processes for the production of existing pharmaceutical products. In an economic analysis investigating the viability of a production process using plant cell cultures, people must compare the cost price with the market price. Investigations aimed at improvement of productivity are always carried out on a laboratory scale and the results of these investigations have to be implemented on a large scale.
