State of the transgenic union: Frankenorganisms ahoy!

Ribofunk science fiction writer Paul Di Filippo rounds up the big picture on transgenic plants and animals for Contract Pharma magazine:

Meanwhile, at GTC Biotherapeutics in Framingham, MA, goats seem to be the ideal solution to that company's particular quest. And certainly this choice of caprine platform has paid off enormously; GTC can now boast a historical milestone with the release of "ATryn®, our recombinant form of human antithrombin, the first transgenically produced protein to be approved anywhere in the world, having recently been approved by the European Commission for the prophylactic treatment of deep vein thrombosis in patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiencies that are undergoing surgical procedures," according to a company statement.

Link (Thanks, Paul!)

[#1 posted by Xeni Jardin , October 19, 2007 3:50 PM]

What a fascinating piece. Also, am I the only one who skimmed the headline and read "frankenorgasms"?

[#2 posted by EnglishNerd , October 19, 2007 4:26 PM]

That is very interesting. Also, you aren't the only one who misread the headline.

[#3 posted by Chuck , October 19, 2007 4:45 PM]

Make that three misreads.

For a second, I thought we would have to start paying fines for unlicensed orgasms.:-P

[#4 posted by wildweasel , October 19, 2007 4:53 PM]

I almost read "transgender". So there's another possible misread.

[#5 posted by Renwick , October 20, 2007 7:50 AM]

I thought this happened a while ago? There is another drug that is produced in transgenic rabbits to treat hereditary angioedema that may be approved soon.

http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/ng.asp?id=78196-pharming-gtc-biotherapeutics-transgenic-animals-rhucin-atryn

[#6 posted by Guido , October 20, 2007 8:42 PM]

Am I reading well?
Because the first transgenic protein for humans has almost 30 years and is used today worldwide by millions of people. It is recombinant insulin.
It was created in the late seventies.
According to the Wikipedia:
"1978 Genentech produces human insulin in Escheria coli bacteria using recombinant DNA techniques, licenses to Eli Lilly"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

Future has been among us for a long time.

PS: Nothing of Franken here. We are all transgenic, from the moment we get a retrovirus, it inserts into our DNA, making it human-viral hybrid. So, we are all transgenic in that sense.

[#7 posted by chezzo , October 21, 2007 3:20 PM]

@ 6

I think it means "first protein produced by transgenic *animals*"

(Artificial insulin is made by genetically-modified bacteria)

[#8 posted by Guido , October 22, 2007 12:38 PM]

Yes, that makes much more sense.