Chickens lay anti-cancer drugs in eggs (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Investigators have developed genetically engineered hens that lay eggs containing high levels of anti-cancer antibodies.

The feat demonstrates how the birds can be used as "pharmaceutical bioreactors" to make many other drugs, the British gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica announced on Friday.

In a statement, it said the "breakthrough" was achieved in collaboration with the American avian specialist Viragen, Inc, and the Roslin Institute in Scotland, famous for cloning Dolly the sheep.

"For the first time, the collaboration has produced a potentially therapeutic protein selectively in the whites of eggs ... This technology is expected to offer a low-cost manufacturing alternative for the production of many protein drugs, with additional potential advantages in the quality of the products."

The therapeutic protein produced in the eggs is an antibody designed to treat malignant melanoma.