Scientists grow disease-fighting drugs in chicken eggs

Scientists have successfully been able to create chickens through genetic engineering that lay eggs with such drugs in them that can treat fatal diseases.

Researchers from National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan, genetically manufactured genes that created interferon beta, a kind of gene related to immune system and used for treating illness like multiple sclerosis and hepatitis. By nurturing the hens, the created protein was set up in ancestor cells of chicken sperm.

The cells were later used for fertilizing eggs and create more hens that contained those proteins. The chickens were actually able to lay eggs almost every day that had disease-fighting agent in them. The egg whites in them have the interferon beta protein. The team has now successfully produced three hens that lay eggs after every one or two days.

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According to Futurism, scientists aim to sell the drug to various pharmaceutical firms by cutting down its price in half so that they can utilize it as a research material initially. They also hope to stabilize the interferon beta contents of the eggs in order to create almost a dozen milligrams to 100 milligrams from a single egg.

However, the product is not expected to be available for consumer use any time soon since the country has stern regulations regarding new pharmaceutical products and the screening processes usually take years to get done with. Yet, the team believes that this innovative technology will reduce drug prices to 10% of its current price.

“This is a result that we hope leads to the development of cheap drugs. In the future, it will be necessary to closely examine the characteristics of the agents contained in the eggs and determine their safety as pharmaceutical products,” researcher Hironobu Hojo told The Japan News.