Just Say Naaaaaa To Nerve Gas
American scientists, with funding from the US Department of Defense, have found a new way to produce an anti-toxin for nerve agents. Initial testing of the new drug shows that it would be more effective than the current drugs that soldiers carry for emergency use. Oh, and it comes from goat milk.
The drug, called recombinant butyrylcholinesterase, could be used as a protective drug or to treat people after exposure.
Dr Solomon Langermann, of PharmAthene, and a co-author on the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, said: “It is a very difficult molecule to produce.
“There is a long history of people trying to produce this in everything from insects to yeast to bacteria and mammalian cells.
“None of them has been able to produce anything beyond milligram amounts. In the goat, we can make two or three grams per litre.”
Butyrylcholinesterase is an enzyme produced in the human body that can be purified from blood in small quantities. Researchers inserted the human version of the gene involved into female goat embryos.
The resulting female animals, all healthy, produced large quantities of the protective chemical in their milk.
Once the enzyme was purified from milk, it was injected into guinea pigs.
The researchers found it remained active in the blood.
Dr Langermann said Protexia, the drug’s commercial name, was more effective than the combined drugs atropine and 2-PAM carried by soldiers for protection against nerve agents.
The drug produced by the genetically modified goats still needs thorough testing and FDA approval. We simply cannot wait to see what side effects this stuff has.
By Sylvia, Wednesday, 25 July , 2007 @ 7:15 pm
Fascinating — and I hope it works and is approved!
By FedUp, Thursday, 26 July , 2007 @ 10:04 am
Hmmm…. goats… just how many would that be… and what is their carbon footprint (wanted to get that in before the lun-i-tics did)
By wheels, Thursday, 26 July , 2007 @ 11:25 am
Nerve gas exposure? Quick - administer a Greek salad!