Alternative sources for better and safer products

Many healthcare products are derived in one way or the other from a biological source, including animal organs such as pancreas and stomach, human body fluids such as blood or urine, and human tissues and organs such as placentas or pituitaries. The production process can be costly and energy intensive, as huge quantities of source material are often needed, unwanted side products need to be removed and allowances made for source variability or scarcity. In some cases, the use of animal or human material poses the risk of transmission of infectious particles causing devastating diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease or mad cow disease. Below we give examples demonstrating how the use of genetic engineering avoids cumbersome, scarce or risky production processes and offers an unlimited supply of very pure and often better products.