OvImmune Inc, a biotech company in rural central Ohio, has been accused by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of developing and selling unlicenced drugs in eggs that contain antibodies produced from vaccinated hens.
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The company, which claims that the antibodies in the eggs could boost human immune systems against diseases such as AIDS or pneumonia, is now being investigated by a federal grand jury in Columbus.
The FDA claims that OvImmune sold the egg products over the Internet as “magic bullets… to target and destroy unwanted biologic entities such as cancer”.
It also suggested that on 31 March last year, 40 residents of the company’s hone town became unwittingly recruited for unapproved medical experiments of the eggs. During a seminar held by the company’s president Marilyn Coleman in the Richwood Church of Christ, medical consent forms were circulated according to the FDA, before 60,000 eggs were distributed to the people in Richwood between March and August.
The FDA had warned Coleman that unauthorised medical experiments would not be tolerated but Coleman told the Associated Press: “All we did was give away eggs. I don’t see how we have done anything wrong.
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By GlobalData“Some people called and told me how eating the eggs has helped them… but we didn’t keep track of who took the eggs or who called.”
Coleman, an assistant professor at Ohio State University between 1976 and 1980, explained: “We design egg antibodies to boost the immune system for people that need their immune system boosted.
“The eggs are not drugs; they are dietary supplements.
“The chickens are vaccinated like all chickens. All you do is dry the eggs and sell the powder. There’s nothing added to the eggs.”
In related news, researchers from the University of Georgia and AviGenics, Inc reported yesterday [Monday] that chickens could be a perfect source of biologically produced drugs to treat a range of problems.
In a report published in the April issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, the scientists explained that GE chickens produced consistent levels of an enzyme in their eggs, and that they could therefore be used as “bioreactors” to make the proteins commonly used in human medicine.
