A genetically modified cow has produced milk containing human insulin, according to a new study. The proof-of-concept achievement could be scaled up to, eventually, produce enough insulin to ensure availability and reduced cost for all diabetics requiring the life-maintaining drug.
Let me know if and when this makes insulin cheap enough to afford. If we’re going to continue making big companies richer at the expense of sick people, we might as well not gloat about these achievements.
And if you’re going to talk about the dependence of price on demand and supply, you’re still not getting it. These companies are masters at creating artificial scarcity by several means including patents and price gouging cartels.
This. This. This.
We have a reliable means that doesn’t require producing large animals that will, at scale, put more needless pressure on our collapsing ecosystems. Get insulin out of corporate pharmaceuticals and into a basic right to cost-free access model where we, society, fund the production.
It’s still good to know this stuff so we know which labs to raid first when civilization collapses.