Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Animal Pharms for growing drugs

I wonder what happens if these animals escape? Makes me think about The Secret of NIMH.

Pharming: "...several companies worldwide perfecting the art of "pharming" -- genetically modifying animals to churn out drugs for disorders like hemophilia and cancer."

How they do it: "It involves genetic modification of an animal embryo's genetic makeup, or genome. Just after fertilization, "pharmers" insert into the embryo a human gene that codes for a particular protein -- usually one that's produced naturally in humans, but that's lacking in people who have certain diseases. They attach that DNA code with a gene that codes for a sugar found in mammalian milk, insuring that the therapeutic protein will be expressed only in the animals' milk or eggs."

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,72708-0.html?tw=rss.index

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