Biopharmaceutical

Biopharmaceuticals are medical drugs (see pharmacology) produced by biotechnology. The first such substance approved for therapeutic use was recombinant insulinin 1982.

Large scale production

Biopharmaceuticals may be produced from microbial cells (e.g. recombinantEscherichia coli), mammalian cell lines (See Cell culture) and plant cell cultures (See Plant tissue culture) in bioreactorsof various configurations.

Important issues of concern are cost of production (low volume high purity product) and microbial contamination (bacteria, virus, mycoplasma, etc). Alternative platforms of production that are being tested include whole plants (Plant-made pharmaceuticals).

The term biopharmacology also describes a field of research closely related to pharmacokinetics.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopharmaceutical Wikipedia article Biopharmaceutical.