Insulin From Flowers

Type I diabetics require insulin. Many type II diabetics require insulin. Depending on how and where you shop for things, insulin is either the most expensive or the second most expensive regular expense of diabetes. (The most expensive for many, including me, are the test strips. It should be noted this post ignores the cost of complications from diabetes.)

For a long time insulin came from cows and pigs. Later it was found that the effect of insulin lasted longer if it was mixed with the semen of river trout. (I wish I was making that up.) This made it somewhat rare and expensive, and there were sometimes immune reactions. Then came gene splicing.

Though the package insert delicately says "recombinant DNA origin" it skips over just what is going on. In point of fact human genes are inserted into E. coli bacteria. My brain is fine with that, but occasionally if I think about E. coli too long my stomach feels a bit uneasy. Not logical, but real.

Now comes word of "Prairie Insulin," using genetically engineered safflowers.

But scientists at the University of Calgary are now working to change that. They have figured out a way to genetically manipulate safflower flowers to produce insulin. By inserting a human insulin gene into the plant, the safflowers become little insulin factories. Their seeds are then ground, the oil extracted, and the insulin harvested.

It's passed phase 2 tests, showing it is safe, and now will begin phase III tests to insure that it is effective. If it works the price of insulin could drop dramatically in a few years.

Each acre of safflower flowers could produce more than one kilogram of insulin, which could treat 2,500 diabetic patients for one year. That means just 16,000 acres of safflowers could meet the world's total demand each year.

Now if someone would just come up with genetically engineered test strips.

(Via PopSci.com)