Biotech Pharmaceuticals Virtually all biotherapeutic agents in clinical use are biotech pharmaceuticals. Insulin was among the earliest recombinant drugs. For example, in July 1997 Scotland's Roslin Institute announced the birth of the first genetically engineered sheep clone. Other organisms that have been genetically engineered to produce substances that are or may be medically useful to humans include cows, goats, rats, and corn, potato, and tobacco plants. In contrast, most conventionally produced pharmaceutical agents designed for treating humans are foreign to, or not normally present in, the human body.
Pharmaceutical biotechnology is new relative to biotherapy.
Animal insulin, however, differs slightly but significantly from human insulin and can elicit troublesome immune responses. Unlike the derivation of insulin from animals, biotech production of the hormone virtually precludes contamination with other hormones. Further, it can satisfy medical needs more readily and more affordably. The FDA approved more biotech drugs in 1997 than in the previous several years combined. Gene Therapy Pharmaceutical biotechnology's greatest potential lies in gene therapy.