Biotechnology is the most essential aspects in the healthcare field. It has huge impacts on meeting the requirement of the patient by making testing tools and new drugs through biotechnological processes.
This technology will not only be helpful to people, but it can also help in many different industries. Moreover, drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tools, are made from biotechnology that are highly essential to treat, cure, and even prevent deadly diseases.
All biotech advances in the healthcare field come from living organisms or are made through recombinant technology. This is a set of lab methods that change DNA molecules that don’t occur naturally in the genome.
How Biotech has Changed Over Time?
Biotechnology got its initiation somewhere in the middle of the 1970s, but it really took off in the 1980s. This was the time when different biotech goods emerged!
During the 1980s, most research was done on the endocrine system and diseases of the blood. At that time, only five companies came up with 12 biotech products to treat 12 different healthcare problems.
Biotech has been around for a pretty long time. The Egyptians used different live organisms to make the raw materials for food like cheese and bread. This method grew into what is now called traditional biotechnology, which is a more advanced form.
After that, recombinant DNA technology, monoclonal antibodies, and commercialised medicines helped the field advance. In 1982, modified proteins were used for the first time to treat diseases like hepatis, diabetes, and anaemia that made people really sick.
In 1982, insulin was approved by the FDA and this was considered one of the significant advancements in the biotech field.
Healthcare Advances in Biotechnology
Biotechnology is used in a lot of ways in the health care field, leading to great new things like:
Stem Cell Research
Biotechnology has made a big difference in this specific area. Researchers change stem cells so that they become different kinds of cells. This lets them replace broken cells that can’t fix themselves.
For instance, stem cells might be able to repair cells in the pancreas that make insulin, which can be handy with type 1 diabetes. In the same way, stem cell research might be able to fix degenerative spinal disorders and improve people’s general quality of life.
Monoclonal Antibodies
These molecules are made in a lab to copy and boost immune reactions, especially those against cancer cells. Monoclonal antibodies can do many things, like search cancer cells or even send radiation to the right place.
Making these antibodies was a huge step forward in biotechnology at the end of the 20th century. They are pretty effective and cheap at killing diseased cells, like by blocking cancer cell receptors to make it easier for your immune system to figure out and kill them.
Augmented Reality (AR) and 3D Visualisation for Surgery
Biotechnological advances like CT scans and MRIs make it possible to see inside a patient’s body in 3D visuals. This allows doctors look at organs in detail and make crucial decisions during surgery that are based on accurate information.
Plus, the use of Augmented Reality (AR) in treatments is a huge step in the biotech field. During procedures, virtual tools gives real-time navigation information, which improves the accuracy of surgery.
Health Care Benefits of Biotechnology
As medical science is evolving, biotech is only getting better and more advanced, which has many good sides for the healthcare industry:
Keeping Away Cancer and Heart Conditions
Biotech-based therapies help lower cholesterol levels, lower the chance of heart disease, and even produce enzymes that are made in the lab to improve heart health. For instance, turning off the PCSK9 gene reduces the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which lowers the risk of heart disease. Researchers and scientist are looking into one-time therapies that could possibly help heart patients in the long run, so they wouldn’t have to keep getting treatments all their lives.
Vaccine Development
Biotechnology is indeed changing the way vaccines are made, leading to more accurate and creative solutions. One of the most practical example here would be improved vaccines like those for COVID-19. This vaccine was only possible because have been made possible by biotechnology.
Drug Discovery
Biotechnology is a very important part of drug discovery. After figuring out what makes a disease happen, the process moves on to questions like how the disease spreads, what kinds of cells are affected, what role genes play, and how to choose a target. In the next steps, compounds are tested, lead candidates are found, and rigorous testing is done. Only then do possible drugs move on to clinical trials and eventually go on the market.
Genetic Diseases
Through biotechnology, gene treatments offer hope for treating genetic diseases. These treatments use viruses like adenoviruses, herpes simplex viruses, and retroviruses to replace faulty or inactive genes with healthy copies. This allows normal genes to be integrated and proper function to be restored. Getting help early reduces the chance that a disease will get worse.
At the moment, more than 100 illnesses are being tested on more than 400 biotech drugs and vaccines. These projects cover a wide range of medical areas, such as the treatment of cancer, the care of people with infectious diseases, and the care of people with inflammatory disorders.
Bottom Line
So, after going through this blog, you can now understand the impact of biotech in healthcare. In simple terms, biotechnology has made a huge impact on the healthcare industry. And it’s due to this advancement that made the health industry more promiment and emerging.
