Profile

Isabelle Tremblay-Summers
Manager of the Caprine Production Farm

Is it possible to produce pharmaceuticals from the milk of a goat? As strange as it may seem, Isabelle Tremblay, farm manager at Caprine Production Farm, answers "Yes" without any doubt. Of course, under normal circumstances, goat's milk contains the usual components - fat, protein, vitamins and minerals. But Nexia Biotechnologies, a Canadian company established in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, on the West Island of Montréal, has succeeded in developing transgenic goats that carry specific pharmaceuticals as part of their milk. Some of these goats are raised at the experimental farm in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, and others are raised at the Caprine Farm, near St-Télesphore, near the Ontario border.

But why would anybody want to produce pharmaceuticals in . . . milk? To make a long story short, many medications, such as anti-rejection drugs (taken after an organ transplant), are very expensive to produce. Others, such as blood clots, are often extracted from human blood, increasing the risk of transmitting a virus to the recipient. To mitigate these problems, Nexia Biotechnologies has engineered its goats to produce specific human proteins, which can be done quickly and in large quantities. These proteins are then extracted from the milk and transformed into products such as insulin, growth hormones and blood clots. In this way, certain drugs that now cost about $1,000 per gram, could be produced for as low as $2 per gram.

Nexia has developed its own type of goat to produce pharmaceuticals in their milk. Known as the BELE goat, which stands for Breed Early, Lactate Early, this Nigerian dwarf goat matures very rapidly and, since they are non-seasonal with regard to breeding, they are sexually active all year round. Also, because of their small size, they need less space to be housed.

The way these goats are engineered to produce added-value substances in their milk is complex. After a BELE female goat has been mated, the embryos (there are often more than one) are extracted and a single highly characterized human gene is inserted into each cell of the embryo. The embryos are then implanted into a standard goat, which acts as a recipient mother, producing a transgenic offspring. A female transgenic goat will carry within her mammary gland a specific gene to produce human protein in her milk. The success rate for producing a transgenic goat is low (5 to 10 %), so most BELE offspring are used for future breeding.

Although these processes may raise concerns about the condition of the goats, animal welfare activists would be hard to find fault with the goats' living conditions. Nexia Biotechnologies works closely with the CCAC (Canadian Council of Animal Care) to achieve the highest standards of animal welfare. For example, the pens are equipped with hanging tires or colored balls to prevent the goats from getting bored. In summer, the barn is well aerated and in the winter, it is heated properly. When surgical operations are practiced on a goat, general anesthesia is performed. The aesthetic itself is selected so that the post-operating discomforts are avoided. These surgical operations are limited to three in a goat's lifetime. Afterwards, BELE goats are allowed to carry their pregnancies normally.

Caprine Farm has very high biosecurity standards. As explained by Isabelle Tremblay, the goats raised at the farm are certified free of certain diseases such as CAE, CLA, brucellosis, TB and blue tongue, and must remained free of these. So, in order to simply enter the grounds of the farm, visitors are required to shower and wear sterile suits in case they carry bacteria or viruses transmissible to the goats. The water and the food given to the goats are closely monitored. The hay must be grown on a farm where there are no animals and where no animal manure is spread on the fields (many diseases survive in manure and can then be transmitted) and the water must be free of chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides. The farm itself was not built on just any old location. Nexia chose a site that has not been used for many years as agricultural land to avoid any residual products that could be harmful to the goats.

Nexia Biotechnologies is a very young and dynamic company. Founded in 1993 by Jeffrey Turner, a former McGill University professor, the company is now taking its place in the transgenic world market beside major firms such as Pharming NV of the Netherlands, Genzyme Trangenic located in Boston, U.S., and PPL Therapeutics PLC, located in Scotland. Since there are just a few companies working in the transgenic field, "there is no model to follow," according to Tremblay. Hence, employees need to be enthusiastic and able to implement innovative solutions. Tremblay, who has completed her masters degree in animal dietetics and worked on a horse farm for two years, had no specific training in goat farming before she started working with Nexia Biotechnologies as the farm manager. This is maybe why she seems to enjoy her work tremendously . . . so much needs to be done and explored in this new field!