2007-01-15 | permalink

GM hens’ medicinal eggs aid cancer fight

The UK’s leading cancer charity yesterday welcomed work by British scientists who created a breed of genetically modified hens that can produce cancer-fighting medicines in their eggs. The research could slash the cost of producing drugs and potentially save the NHS millions of pounds. Helen Sang, of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, where Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, genetically modified hens to lay eggs that contained complex medicinal proteins similar to the drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis, skin cancer and arthritis. The hens have had human genes added to their DNA, which means human proteins are secreted into the whites of their eggs.

• The Guardian, UK: GM hens' medicinal eggs aid cancer fight
• The Sunday Times, UK: GM hens lay eggs to fight cancer
• The Scotsman, UK: Which came first, the chicken or the drug?
• Reuters: Engineered chickens make cancer drugs - report
• British Broadcasting Service, UK: Anti-cancer chicken eggs produced