Human growth hormone production using recombinant DNA technology

• Grant number: 97/07394-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: January 01, 1998
• End date: April 30, 2004
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Jaime Francisco Leyton Ritter
• Grantee: Jaime Francisco Leyton Ritter
• Company: Genosys Biotecnológica S/C Ltda

Abstract

The use of pharmaceutical products produced by recombinant DNS technology has become a reality in today’s world. Brazil, however, has no pharmaceutical laboratory producing pharmaceutical products using this technology. This project intends to create a company able to produce pharmaceutical formulations using this method. The choice of the Human Growth Hormone (hGH) as the first product, in addition to its therapeutic importance, is due to the fact that most of the research has already been completed - from isolating the gene and its expression in bacterium to the purification of the recombinant, biologically active product on a laboratory scale. The result of this project, recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH), is an indispensable product for promoting growth in cases of dwarfism caused by a deficiency of hGH. Other therapeutic uses for this product (aging, osteoporosis, recovery from fractures, loss of muscular mass in AIDS) are being researched. All the hGH currently used in Brazil is imported and there is a shortage in the market. It is intended to scale up the fermentation process to industrial scale, partially to scale up the purification process carrying out the appropriate purity tests and performing clinical tests. (AU)