The Age of Pharmabrewing

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

Written byLaura Marengo and John D. Loike

| 3 min read

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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
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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. He served previously as the codirector for graduate studies in the Department of Physiology Cellular Biophysics and director of Special Programs in the Center for Bioethics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His biomedical research focuses on how human white blood cells combat infections and cancer. Loike lectures internationally on emerging topics in bioethics, organizes international conferences, and has published more than 150 papers and abstracts in the areas of immunology, cancer, and bioethics. He earned his Ph.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
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