Does modern biotechnology really help patients?
In many cases it is only biotechnology, which can make therapy possible at all. It offers patients safe treatments, vaccines with fewer side effects, and more rapid and sensitive diagnostics. And it holds out the best hope for new treatments too, for the many diseases that still remain without any effective therapy.
Using genetic engineering techniques, naturally occurring substances that provide treatment for disease can now be produced in large quantities. Previously, many of these preparations could be obtained only from animals (in the case of insulin, for instance), or from human tissue (as in the case of factor VIII for haemophilia). Today, thanks to biotechnology, these can be produced not only more abundantly, but also to the highest level of quality so that they offer the greatest safety and efficacy with the least risk of side effects.
In the past, human growth hormone, for instance for treating hereditary dwarfism, could be obtained only from the brains (pituitary glands) of human cadavers. Now a single 500 litre production run using modified micro-organisms in biotechnological processes can produce as much human growth hormone as could formerly be obtained from 35,000 corpses and without the risk of Creutzfeldt Jakobs? disease contamination.
In addition, only genetic engineering makes it possible to obtain sufficient quantities of substances such as beta-interferon, which can effectively alleviate the symptoms of a form of multiple sclerosis, or colony stimulating factor, which can reinforce the body’s immune system during certain cancer treatments. Previously, thousands of litres of blood were needed to produce a few milligrams of interferons and as a result, they were so scarce that their potential could not be property explored in therapy.
Over the last decade, biotechnology has also created a new generation of vaccines against hepatitis and whooping cough with a lower potential for causing side effects. Further breakthrough vaccines developed by modem biotechnology methods can be expected, notably to protect a growing number of patients from herpes, Lyme disease, respiratory syncitial virus, and malaria; improved vaccines against cholera and tuberculosis can also be expected. Therapeutic vaccines to cure patients suffering from diseases such as hepatitis B and certain forms of cancer are also in development.
Genetic engineering techniques make it possible to identify diseases more quickly than before. With tuberculosis, for instance, a test derived from genetic engineering can detect the disease in hours, instead of the four to six weeks previously required. These techniques make it possible to treat patients sooner, and therefore more effectively.
Using genetic engineering techniques, naturally occurring substances that provide treatment for disease can now be produced in large quantities. Previously, many of these preparations could be obtained only from animals (in the case of insulin, for instance), or from human tissue (as in the case of factor VIII for haemophilia). Today, thanks to biotechnology, these can be produced not only more abundantly, but also to the highest level of quality so that they offer the greatest safety and efficacy with the least risk of side effects.
In the past, human growth hormone, for instance for treating hereditary dwarfism, could be obtained only from the brains (pituitary glands) of human cadavers. Now a single 500 litre production run using modified micro-organisms in biotechnological processes can produce as much human growth hormone as could formerly be obtained from 35,000 corpses and without the risk of Creutzfeldt Jakobs? disease contamination.
In addition, only genetic engineering makes it possible to obtain sufficient quantities of substances such as beta-interferon, which can effectively alleviate the symptoms of a form of multiple sclerosis, or colony stimulating factor, which can reinforce the body’s immune system during certain cancer treatments. Previously, thousands of litres of blood were needed to produce a few milligrams of interferons and as a result, they were so scarce that their potential could not be property explored in therapy.
Over the last decade, biotechnology has also created a new generation of vaccines against hepatitis and whooping cough with a lower potential for causing side effects. Further breakthrough vaccines developed by modem biotechnology methods can be expected, notably to protect a growing number of patients from herpes, Lyme disease, respiratory syncitial virus, and malaria; improved vaccines against cholera and tuberculosis can also be expected. Therapeutic vaccines to cure patients suffering from diseases such as hepatitis B and certain forms of cancer are also in development.
Genetic engineering techniques make it possible to identify diseases more quickly than before. With tuberculosis, for instance, a test derived from genetic engineering can detect the disease in hours, instead of the four to six weeks previously required. These techniques make it possible to treat patients sooner, and therefore more effectively.
