The Age of Pharmabrewing

We should not resist developing opiate-producing GM yeast for fear of the technology falling into the wrong hands.

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Genetically modified (GM) organisms have become an established part of the American landscape. GM plants, for example, are used in farming to produce more than 92 percent of all corn and 94 percent of all soy in the United States. Even in the pharmaceutical industry, innovative technologies involving GM yeast are being used to economically produce commercial drugs, such as hepatitis B and malaria vaccines, that are otherwise too costly. Yeast-based synthesis of hepatitis vaccines costs around $1 per dose, compared with $20–$40 per dose for standard hepatitis vaccines. GM yeast is now also being employed to produce ethically contentious drugs, such as cannabinoids and, most recently, opiates—a market estimated to be worth more than $8 billion.

Although yet to reach the market, such technology ...

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Meet the Author

  • Laura Marengo

    This person does not yet have a bio.
  • John Loike

    John D. Loike

    John Loike serves as the interim director of bioethics at New York Medical College and as a professor of biology at Touro University. His biomedical research focuses on how human white blood cells combat infections and cancer.

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