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How do they make Remicade?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 6235
Posted 7/22/2019 8:29 AM (GMT -7)
I just read that part of it is mouse protein. So are they killing a bunch of mice to make this medicine? sad I can't find anything about how it is made on the internet. I'm not judging anyone for taking; I'm just wanting to be informed. And yes, I'm aware that all of the UC meds I am taking have surely been tested on animals.
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greenuc
Regular Member
Joined : Sep 2011
Posts : 266
Posted 7/22/2019 9:21 AM (GMT -7)
I have spent a lot of time on this before I started Entyvio. Virtually ALL biologics are made from Chinese hamster cells that were originally cultivated in the 1970's. The hamsters are long gone, but the cells are continually propogated over the years.

These chinese hamster cells are used as factories. The lab injects "information" into the cell that tells the cell precisely how to produce a certain protein (Remicade or Entyvio). Those cells are placed in a large tubs containing all kinds of nutrients and sugars and the temperature is just right to make the cells happy. The cells crank out these proteins for a period of time. Eventually, once the proteins have reached the right concentration, the fluid passes through a filter eliminating all of the hamster cells and just leaving the target protein medicine.

Here is one of the youtube videos on the process from a very high level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8h1HBDJ__c
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Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 6235
Posted 7/22/2019 9:23 AM (GMT -7)
Ok, that makes me feel a lot better about taking this! Sorry for my ignorance, lol. These meds and the way they work are a bit over my head, but I'm trying to educate myself. Thank you for explaining that and replying. I'll watch the YouTube video.
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iPoop
Forum Moderator
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 16180
Posted 7/22/2019 9:24 AM (GMT -7)
No worries, no groundup mice within remicade smile

Most medications we take (like mesalamine or tylenol) are raw elements compounded together. It's much like we do, ourselves when we bake a cake. Raw elements are mixed together, and a process like heating or adding acids produces the medicine. They refine the medicine to remove impurities and isolate just the desired substance.

Biologics are entirely different in manufacture, and are far too complex in chemical structure to be compounded (as within the prior example). Instead, we reprogram living cells to manufacture the protein we call remicade/humira for us. If you think about how a cold/flu virus works, it enters a living cell and reprograms the cell to produce more viruses in mass. That's exactly what is done except by people.

There's a couple cell lineages, some are bacterial in origin, one was originally a hamster cell (entyvio) and another was originally a mouse cell (remicade). They take a single cell, remove the cell interior and reprogrammed it to do something entirely different than it would've done. That genetically engineered cell's purpose is to now produce lots of remicade/entyvio proteins. These cell lineages have been used for decades for research, and far divorced from the original animal from which they came. They have large vats temperature controlled, and surrounded by nutrients with many of these cells suspended within it. Periodically they extract the proteins produced from the cells, remove impurities, and the medication is acquired.

https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/how-its-made/videos/how-biologic-medicines-are-made

https://weekly.biotechprimer.com/biomanufacturing-how-biologics-are-made/
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Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 6235
Posted 7/22/2019 9:25 AM (GMT -7)
How did the Remicade work for you, by the way?
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iPoop
Forum Moderator
Joined : Aug 2012
Posts : 16180
Posted 7/22/2019 9:28 AM (GMT -7)
Currently in a remission. Remicade has been the only medication to give me a remission, and I've sustained remission with only a few minor bumps along the road. I've been on remicade since 2012? Been a long while. No side effects, it's been great smile
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Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 6235
Posted 7/22/2019 9:28 AM (GMT -7)

iPoop said...
No worries, no groundup mice within remicade smile

Most medications we take (like mesalamine or tylenol) are raw elements compounded together. It's much like we do, ourselves when we bake a cake. Raw elements are mixed together, and a process like heating or adding acids produces the medicine. They refine the medicine to remove impurities and isolate just the desired substance.

Biologics are entirely different in manufacture, and are far too complex in chemical structure to be compounded (as within the prior example). Instead, we reprogram living cells to manufacture the protein we call remicade/humira for us. If you think about how a cold/flu virus works, it enters a living cell and reprograms the cell to produce more viruses in mass. That's exactly what is done except by people.

There's a couple cell lineages, some are bacterial in origin, one was originally a hamster cell (entyvio) and another was originally a mouse cell (remicade). They take a single cell, remove the cell interior and reprogrammed it to do something entirely different than it would've done. That genetically engineered cell's purpose is to now produce lots of remicade/entyvio proteins. These cell lineages have been used for decades for research, and far divorced from the original animal from which they came. They have large vats temperature controlled, and surrounded by nutrients with many of these cells suspended within it. Periodically they extract the proteins produced from the cells, remove impurities, and the medication is acquired.

https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/how-its-made/videos/how-biologic-medicines-are-made

https://weekly.biotechprimer.com/biomanufacturing-how-biologics-are-made/

Lo!!! Thank god, haha. I feel slightly stupid for asking that now. I am pretty freaked out to start Remicade, but knowing so many here have taken it and had success with it makes me feel somewhat better. Also, I really want to be off prednisone, and I know how horrible pred is for us long-term. I can't get below 10 or 20 mg without symptoms now. Thank you for that explanation and the links!
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Sara14
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2007
Posts : 6235
Posted 7/22/2019 9:30 AM (GMT -7)

iPoop said...
Currently in a remission. Remicade has been the only medication to give me a remission, and I've sustained remission with only a few minor bumps along the road. I've been on remicade since 2012? Been a long while. No side effects, it's been great smile

That is so great. I can only hope to have such a long remission as you have. Heck, I'd be happy if I even get a year or two, lol.
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