Page "Biotechnology" Paragraph 38

Modern biotechnology can be used to manufacture existing medicines relatively easily and cheaply.

The first genetically engineered products were medicines designed to treat human diseases.

To cite one example, in 1978 Genentech developed synthetic humanized insulin by joining its gene with a plasmid vector inserted into the bacterium Escherichia coli.

Insulin, widely used for the treatment of diabetes, was previously extracted from the pancreas of abattoir animals ( cattle and / or pigs ).

The resulting genetically engineered bacterium enabled the production of vast quantities of synthetic human insulin at relatively low cost.

According to a 2003 study undertaken by the International Diabetes Federation ( IDF ) on the access to and availability of insulin in its member countries, synthetic ' human ' insulin is considerably more expensive in most countries where both synthetic ' human ' and animal insulin are commercially available: e. g. within European countries the average price of synthetic ' human ' insulin was twice as high as the price of pork insulin.

Yet in its position statement, the IDF writes that " there is no overwhelming evidence to prefer one species of insulin over another " and " highly purified animal insulins remain a perfectly acceptable alternative.