Research looks to lower drug costs

The researchers have discovered a technique using magnets to remove dead cells from cultures, which makes it easier to create protein-based drugs.

Not only will this make the production of drugs more efficient, but it will also streamline research into new medicines which uses cell culture

Professor Chris Gregory

Centre for Inflammation Research

Such medications are often expensive to manufacture due to the time-consuming and labour-intensive cell culture work which is needed, although the new technique could avoid this by making the process more efficient.

Tests found that removing dead cells with the Edinburgh team's method can increase the productivity of the cell cultures by 100 per cent and avoids the need for other ways of removal which can damage healthy cells.

Professor Chris Gregory, from the Centre for Inflammation Research, commented: "Not only will this make the production of drugs more efficient, but it will also streamline research into new medicines which uses cell culture.

A spin-out firm, Immunosolv, has been formed by the university to explore the possibility of marketing the new technology.

Last week, scientists from Durham University and the North East England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) were part of an international research collaboration which discovered stem cell markers that show the presence of aggressive forms of bowel cancer.