But the current process of making them in mammalian cell cultures inside stainless steel tanks is very expensive.
In the case of MPS I, treatment with the enzyme replacement drug Aldurazyme, from Genzyme and Biomarin, costs over $300,000 a year for children and more for adults.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers said transgenic plants could be a cost-effective and safe alternative.
Some large companies have been looking at ways to make complex protein drugs in plants but molecular farming has yet to deliver its first commercial product.
The closest is a Gaucher disease drug from Israel's Protalix BioTherapeutics and Pfizer, which is produced in a culture of carrot cells - rather than in whole plants - and was approved for sale in the United States in May.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Louise Heavens)
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