Replies to post #916 on GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[used to make chicken]

My guess is they did feasibility studies with multiple entities, and chose goats over bunnies. I doubt the bunnies will be further involved.

[mblimon]

Cox's answer to the question why rabbits will be used instead of goats (during the webcast), has convinced me that it was LFB which has imposed this choice on GTCB. So why rabbits (according to me)? Because BioProtein, another french company, has very modern facilities for the production of transgenic rabbits, which so far have remained rather idle. It seems (but that is my guess) that BioProtein already has developed transgenic rabbits for rhFactor VII as part of the feasibility of the project (and on behalf of LFB), so the choice of the bioreactor was in fact already made. I know that the French are eager to be in the forefront of transgenic development, but there still is some resistance within France around this theme.