Mindfully.org

"Pharming" Cows Provide Vital Proteins

Turning Milk into Medicine

Andrew Tilghman / AP 17jan01

pharmagedon

Vienna Farms isn't the typical Wisconsin dairy farm.

A full-time veterinarian keeps careful watch over a herd housed in climate-controlled barns. Delivery trucks are hosed down with disinfectant. And farm workers wear colored overalls to designate their level of biosecurity clearance.

The cows at this DeForest facility look, feel and smell just like any other herd in America's Dairyland.

``You would never in a million years be able to tell the difference,'' said Mark Clarke, the farm's operations manager.

But under a scientist's microscope, they are fundamentally different. The cows at Vienna Farms and two other farms like it in Wisconsin are raised from genetically altered embryos to produce milk with human proteins.

The milk, rather than being bottled or used for making cheese, could be sold to pharmaceutical companies to help make lifesaving medicines.

Wisconsin is at the forefront as a testing ground for the merging of two fields -- dairy farming and biotechnical research.

But while the fledgling field -- dubbed ``Pharming'' -- may be highly profitable for a few firms, it's unlikely to help most of the state's struggling dairy farmers, said Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, a national trade group of dairy cooperatives.

``I don't think that this would necessarily be the salvation of the U.S. dairy industry,'' Galen said.

Scientists say that by extracting vital proteins from the cows' milk, pharmaceutical manufacturers could produce medicines much more cheaply and in much larger quantities than by using traditional laboratory techniques.

Bovine Boost for Drug Industry

The milk could be used to make medicines such as insulin for diabetics, a wound sealant to make blood clot faster for hemophiliacs or trauma victims and treatments for many rare diseases.

``There is no doubt in my mind that it is going to work in a good number of cases,'' said Val Giddings, a vice president for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade association representing firms and universities nationwide.

Similar technologies are being applied in other states to use milk from other animals, including goats and pigs, for pharmaceutical products. The field is still in its infancy, however, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve products made using this method.

Vienna Farms is a partnership between the DeForest-based Infigen, a biotechnical research firm, and Pharming Technologies of the Netherlands. The Dutch firm is working with the FDA to approve their initial products, perhaps for commercial use within three to five years, said Frank Pieper, a Pharming vice president.

Wisconsin offers an ideal location for bovine biotechnical companies because of its proximity to traditional dairy industry products, such as feed and medicines, and the research expertise at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Clarke said.

If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org