Using Green Algae as Drug Factory Could Cut Pharma Costs by 1,000 Times
Algae has helped create the atmosphere, played a role in populating the oceans and even produced biofuels so that we might pollute the atmosphere and the oceans a tiny bit less. Now, a team of researchers is coaxing therapeutic pharmaceuticals out of the hardy little organisms, in a process that could eventually produce biologic drugs that are a few orders of magnitude cheaper than existing drugs. Many biologic drugs -- drugs made of proteins -- are manufactured in mammalian cell culture or by bacteria or yeasts for treating everything from diabetes to multiple sclerosis to cancer. But while these processes are effective, they can also be quite expensive -- especially in the case of mammalian cell cultures. Some drugs require investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars before they even reach the clinical trial phase, derailing some potential therapies before they ever get a shot. Related ArticlesAlgae Used To Produce Green...