Somone put the human insulin gene in safflower and made insulin that was fit for human use.
It was done 15 years ago, and apparently was too expensive and complicated to extract, and therefore abandoned
I call bullshit
Pharma profits trump innovation, we know this.
I think that it can be done, and i think the people capable of doing it are here on this site
This would be a revolutionary moment
Im firm believer on the earth/nature has it’s own cure for everything we jus gotta find them
Here’s the patent
I know there’s a PhD geneticist around here who knows more on this than I… @cyclopath @cyclopath call back for @Rowan
I’m learning how to make
human apo-lipoprotein for my lab, using e-coli.
There’s a startup in Berkeley using similar methods for insulin.
https://openinsulin.org/
I’ve visited the lab in berkley- Tight schedule and timing meant I never got to talk to the open insulin folks, planning on heading there within the week though
Dunno how I missed this, how can I help?
(I managed to miss the open insulin crew when I visited their lab for an open house too…)
T1D for 22 bullshit years so far here
Problem I see is that insulin is already pretty cheap to produce…in the US, older tech insulins such as R, NPH and blends like 70/30 can be had at Walmart without insurance for <$25 per 10 mL vial. I was able to buy NPH at a pharmacy near Guadelajara Mexico for <$7 per 10 mL vial. Newer tech insulins that are shorter acting (for use with a pump & monitor/CGM) are more expensive, suspect this is more caused by greedy pharmacy chains than the manufacturers. Same <$25 vial from Walmart pharmacy is over $160 per vial from CVS and over $225 per vial from some pharmacies, paying cash or before you’ve hit your deductible.
Ultimately the better option would be figuring out why some piece of shit immune systems attack their own organs, and how to undo that damage, rather than making a relatively inexpensive to produce commodity even less expensive, the reason it’s expensive is patent rights and sales channels not actual costs of production. Other countries have already figured out how to sell insulin much cheaper than the US does.
What I don’t get is why only one producer(SemiBioSys) was undertaking this massive project. Is it a Canadian thing? It seems like Canada was behind it. Then suddenly the entire project was shuttered. Why the USA hasn’t picked up the ball on this is dereliction. However, the FDA would never approve anything like that in this country. It makes too much logical sense.
A very technical read: USA Patent.
US7547821B2 - Methods for the production of insulin in plants - Google Patents
I’m all for diversification of medical resources. I would love to see hemp based medicine adapted for other drugs.
Wasn’t there an enzyme that could make hops produce cannabinoids using CRISPR?
Yes, it is enzymes that produce cannabinoids in cannabis.
One or more could absolutely be moved into Hops.
CRISPR could be used for that trick, but is not a requirement.
