Think : Thermal : Part One: What is Bio-Pharma and Why Is It Important to Our Future?

This year, we will be exploring a variety of industries that our products reach. No matter where you go, you are never too far from something that was processed, cured, or sterilized in our equipment. This two-part blog will be focused on the Bio-Pharma industry and why it is important. 

Biopharmaceuticals are revolutionizing the world of medicine and saving the lives of thousands of people every day. Patients suffering from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immune diseases, and other health problems already benefit from biopharmaceuticals, which provides targeted treatment and fewer side effects. Soon, billions of people around the world will benefit from this innovative approach to treating disease.

In simple terms, biopharmaceuticals are laboratory-created medicines that are structurally identical to compounds already found in nature.

About Biopharmaceuticals

Biopharmaceuticals, known colloquially as bio-pharma, are the point at which biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing meet. Bio-pharma is the application of living organisms or extractions, by-products or components of living organisms, to prevent, relieve, or treat diseases.

Bio-pharma companies can make drugs from biological components of substances, known as biologics, including sugars, proteins, nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, or complex combination of components. Scientists isolate biologics, or their precursors or components, from living sources such as humans, animals, plants, fungi, or microbes. Because they are the same structurally, these drugs are often more effective and present fewer side effects.

Most biopharmaceuticals come from proteins found in nature. Biopharmaceuticals also come from recombinant proteins, which are special proteins that contain genes manipulated by scientists. The changes cause the proteins to act in a certain way; because the changes are encoded on the genes, each successive generation of the proteins carrying the modified genes will also act that way. Biopharmaceuticals also include stem cells and certain blood components, especially components associated with blood clotting.

Next month, we will continue this series with part two: the uses and benefits of Bio-Pharma.