Scientists have discovered that many congenital diseases in humans are caused by the lack of corresponding genes, and are difficult to cure with current ordinary drugs. For example, by introducing normal gene fragments from normal people into animals, By allowing this gene to be expressed in a mammal, active genetic drugs can be extracted from the milk or other tissues secreted by the animal and used to treat diseases caused by the gene defect. This method of obtaining drugs through genetically modified animals is called animal pharma.
Animal pharmaceutical companies have changed people’s impression of pharmaceutical companies. It looks more like a ranch. Here, groups of genetically modified cows and sheep graze on the green grass. On the surface, they are no different from ordinary cows and sheep. However, the milk secreted in their bodies is medicine that can be used to treat human diseases. These milk-producing animals have high milk production. Animals are like a large drug factory, providing humans with a large amount of needed precious drugs with their cheap milk. Experts predict that gene therapy for diseases will move from trials to clinical application on a large scale in the next century. By then, a large number of drugs produced using biotechnology will be available, and the biopharmaceutical industry will become one of the fastest-growing high-tech industries in the 21st century. Although the bio-high-tech pharmaceutical industry has the characteristics of strong investment, long cycle, and high risk, it will bring high profits once industrialized. Compared with the traditional pharmaceutical industry, animal pharmaceutical factories have the characteristics of less investment, high efficiency, and no pollution. and other advantages.
Medical geneticist Zeng Yitao said that bacterial genetic engineering requires a large workshop for fermentation; making cell engineering drugs also requires a lot of expensive equipment to cultivate cells. If genetically modified animals are used, they only need to be raised and the animal milk Medicines can be produced continuously.
Nowadays, it usually takes 20 to 30 years to develop a new drug. Even if science and technology develops further, it will be difficult to take less than 10 to 15 years. The cycle of genetically modified sheep is generally 18 weeks, and that of cattle is only 18 years. It takes 2 to 3 years, and the benefits are even more amazing. For example, the Dutch Golden Horse Company uses lactoferrin produced from genetically modified cows to make milk powder with iron transfer, antibacterial and other functions. It is estimated that the annual sales of this nutritional milk powder are 5 billion US dollars.
The "coagulation factor" expressed by the transgenic goat successfully tested by the Shanghai Institute of Medical Genetics in February 1998 will have amazing output value if it enters industrial production. According to U.S. statistics, coagulation factor VII was extracted from donated blood sources in the past. Patients in the United States require about 120g of this factor per year. This 120g must be extracted from 1.2 million liters of plasma. Each person donates blood. For 200ml, 6 million blood donors are needed to provide plasma. If genetically modified cows are used for production, only the milk produced by 1.2 cows will be enough.
The biomedical revolution brought about by genetically modified animals not only produced huge economic benefits, but also changed people’s traditional medical methods. People can achieve medical treatment while drinking delicious milk. The purpose of the disease, this qualitative change cannot but be exciting.