www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

No animal, except those accompanying the biblical Noah in the Ark, has ever
generated as much buzz as Dolly the sheep - the first mammal to be cloned,
February 2007
by Gatonye Gathura.

Named after singer Dolly Parton, the clone has since died. Its birth 10
years ago was the first step towards creating animals that manufacture
designer medicines for human beings.

Last week, scientists at the organisation which made Dolly, the Roslyn
Institute in Scotland, announced the creation of the world's first designer
chicken that produces cancer drugs in its eggs.

These chicken are not the first modified animals to be turned into
pharmaceutical factories. But they are significant because, unlike bigger
mammals, they can multiply fast, hence produce more drugs.

However, it will take some time before one places an order for "well done"
eggs that also treat cancer or malaria. This is because the medicinal
components of "pharmed" egg or milk are not available to the body directly.
They will be extracted, processed and packaged at a manufacturing plant.

The current production of genetically-engineered pharmaceutical products is
too expensive and slow. Consequently, it is thought that "pharming" the
drugs in animals could be faster and cheaper.

The second reason why "pharmed" cancer drugs from chicken are still several
years away is because of stringent tests and registration procedures that
they are expected to go through before they are made available to patients..

However, drugs processed from genetically engineered goats could be used by
patients within the next five months.

Modified to include human genes

Last June, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) approved a drug produced by
genetically modified goats.

The pioneering drug, an anti-clotting agent for people with a rare inherited
disease, is made from the milk of goats whose DNA has been modified to
incorporate human genes.

The drug, ATryn, sets a precedent for use of modified animal proteins.
Despite protests from animal welfare campaigners, the technology is
guaranteed to take off.

Another biotech company, Dutch firm Pharming, is close to bringing smart
drugs into the market. Last month, it applied to the European Medicines
Agency - the body that approved ATryn - for a second drug derived from
transgenic animals.

Its drug, Rhucin, is intended to treat hereditary angioedema - characterised
by painful and sometimes fatal swelling of soft tissues.

Like with other cutting edge technologies, Africa lacks the capacity to
invest in this research. Yet investors in research and development (R&D) are
unlikely to put their money in diseases which promise little returns.

Working on malaria vaccine

But Kenyans will be happy to hear that for more than eight years, scientists
at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have been
working on a malaria vaccine that could be mass produced in goat milk.

In a report published by the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences a
few years ago, scientists developed mice that could secrete an experimental
malaria vaccine into their milk.

When the purified, candidate vaccine was injected into monkeys, it protected
four out of five of them from a lethal dose of malaria parasites. In
comparison, six out of seven un-vaccinated animals had to be treated for
virulent malaria.

"A vaccine must not only be effective, it must also be cheap to manufacture,
particularly for poor countries. Using transgenic animals to achieve both
ends is an exciting possibility. Several goats could produce enough vaccine
for the whole of Africa," says lead researcher Anthony Stowers.

Preliminary experiments that have not been published suggest the procedure
works well in larger animals such as goats and cows, offering hope to Kenya
where malaria remains a major killer.

Casting the net much further, scientists have found that genetically
modified plants can produce vaccines and drugs for human and animal
illnesses, ranging from colon cancer to traveller's diarrhoea to tooth
decay. This is called biopharming.

Technology developers believe that using foods to deliver vaccines could
permit the latter to be consumed directly by humans or animals, eliminating
the need for purification of the vaccine strain and the hazards associated
with injections.

Plants used to develop vaccines include maize, spinach, tobacco, lettuce,
tomato, soybeans and potatoes.

[allafrica.com]