Bioreactor in the kitchen
Biohackers with their cheap medicines will bring down the pharmaceutical industry
Daria Berdnikova, Hi-tech+
The USA is the country with the most expensive medicines in the world. Their price includes many years of research, safety tests and a solid profit. Biohackers can destroy the industry by offering ways to produce medicines cheaply at home.
Fans of new technologies are changing the status quo in the American pharmaceutical industry. Biohackers, that is, enthusiastic biologists, are ready to offer a new approach to the production of drugs that will force pharmaceutical giants to reconsider their pricing policy, scientists from University of Colorado.
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Cell, studied the new trend using the example of the Open Insulin Project. This is a project of biohackers who solve the issue of insulin production in small batches.
Although the drug was discovered a long time ago, it still remains expensive: Americans without insurance have to pay $400 per month for insulin. This is what the requirements of federal law make it to conduct expensive safety tests.
Since the insulin formula is no longer protected by patent law, biohackers have the opportunity to extract it at home or in the laboratory using a microbioreactor.
Enthusiastic biologists have every right to make insulin for themselves. However, if they want to compete with pharmaceutical giants, they will also have to undergo safety and efficacy testing procedures.
At the same time, the control of small parties is seriously different from the control of large ones. If it is possible to prove the biosimilarity of "home-made" insulin without clinical studies, this product may become significantly cheaper than the "white" analog.
"The alignment will change," sums up the author of the study, Jenna Gallegos, a graduate student of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Some consider biohacking an oddity, others – a scientific revolution. Still others are afraid that enthusiasts will not stop at sewing travel cards under their skin and are quite capable – accidentally or intentionally – of creating biological weapons.
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