Why is HGH so expensive?

[upperhandy]

Especially seeing as it is made with recombinant DNA technology, like insulin is?

Shouldn't this bring the price way down?

[Razor]

Because its recombinant dna, DNA is expensive to make, you cant just cook it up in your chemistry set.

[upperhandy]

Because its recombinant dna, DNA is expensive to make, you cant just cook it up in your chemistry set.

yeah... but they make insulin the same way, and the cost of insulin is way less than hgh....

how does that work out?

[Razor]

Its completely different

[upperhandy]

Its completely different

i must disagree... it's seems pretty similar to me

from wiki on recombinant dna

"Recombinant DNA is widely used in biotechnology, medicine and research. Today, recombinant proteins and other products that result from the use of rDNA technology are found in essentially every western pharmacy, doctor's or veterinarian's office, medical testing laboratory, and biological research laboratory. In addition, organisms that have been manipulated using recombinant DNA technology, and products derived from those organisms have found their way into many farms, supermarkets, home medicine cabinets and even pet shops.

The most common application of recombinant DNA is in basic research, where it is important to most current work in the biological and biomedical sciences. Recombinant DNA is used to identify, map and sequence genes, and to determine their function. rDNA probes are employed in analyzing gene expression within individual cells, and throughout the tissues of whole organisms. Recombinant proteins are widely used as reagents in laboratory experiments and to generate antibody probes for examining protein synthesis within cells and organisms.

Many additional practical applications of recombinant DNA are found in human and veterinary medicine, in agriculture, and in bioengineering. Some specific examples are identified below.

Recombinant human insulin. Recombinant insulin has almost completely replaced insulin obtained from animal sources (e.g. pigs and cattle) for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes. A variety of different recombinant insulin preparations are in widespread use.

Recombinant human growth hormone (HGH, somatotropin). Growth hormone is administered to patients whose pituitary glands generate insufficient quantities to support normal growth and development. Before recombinant HGH became available, HGH for therapeutic use was obtained from pituitary glands of cadavers. This unsafe practice led to some patients developing Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Recombinant HGH eliminated this problem, and is now used therapeutically."

[Razor]

who cares

[upperhandy]

anyone else?

[OnTheSauce]

supply v demand. you really think nike shoes cost that much more to make than say stride rite or some other walmart brand?

[FONZY007]

You can always buy some Chinese generic HGH..

Quantity vs Quality...

You pick

[spywizard]

because people are willing to pay for it..

[Sgt. Hartman]

The process necessary to make 191aa GH is a great deal more complicated than making insulin . GH is a 191 poly peptide chain that must be assembled perfectly from e coli in order for it to be biologically active. The equipment to do this is tens of millions of dollars. That's why it's so expensive, well that and it's amazing and worth it lol.

[songdog]

Thats why us avg guys dont run it.Hell I would be scared to get scamed out of that much cash.

[upperhandy]

The process necessary to make 191aa GH is a great deal more complicated than making insulin. GH is a 191 poly peptide chain that must be assembled perfectly from e coli in order for it to be biologically active. The equipment to do this is tens of millions of dollars. That's why it's so expensive, well that and it's amazing and worth it lol.

i agree with the comments above about supply v demand, and yes hgh is 191aa chain vs. a 51aa chain for insulin .

and yes the equipment could be expensive (although i'm not in that industry, so idk). but i dont see why it would not be any more/less expensive to insert dna into ecoli for the purposes of hgh production, insulin production, or any other protein/hormone

as soon as the e-coli bacteria (or other organism) has been altered (i.e. has accepted the dna responsible for hormone production) it should just produce it as a normal biological process as that point. and i do know that keeping bacteria alive is not difficult.

anyway, i was just curious.... b/c like i said insulin is cheap and hgh is super expensive and they both use the same technology to produce the hormone

[gixxerboy1]

and you can buy a car for 20k or 120k. There are differences that go into how they are made. just because they are both cars or both dna it doesnt mean the cost will be the same

[upperhandy]

and you can buy a car for 20k or 120k. There are differences that go into how they are made. just because they are both cars or both dna it doesnt mean the cost will be the same

true... but what if the cars were made on the same exact assembly line, by the exact same workers, using almost the same parts? (which is kind of what i am describing) i would question the added value of the second (more expensive) car. certainly this does happen though....look at almost any line of cars.
i guess it's a matter of branding at this point? and perhaps supply and demand.

[Razor]

Patents and company names and FDA approval has much to do with it....nurtropin the most expensive brand is cleared and prescribed for child onset growth deficiency ...seostim is FDA approved for aids and HIV wasting..genentech makes nurtropin aq depot and many other forms of the same line...they are also the first company to successful come up with this technology ..by that they also have one of the most well known and trusted names in the biotechnology industry. I suspect they are the highest price because they can charge it and are not associated with aids HIV market but helping kids...any parents will do whatever they can for there children so higher prices ensue as well because of that.