The Use of Fetal Cell Lines in Medications
21,000 prescription medicines are licensed and approved for use in the U.S. and a similar number of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. The number is growing and technology is advancing. As we stated on the previous page, it would be impossible to research every single one.
When you inquire, we do the research. We ONLY list KNOWN and CONFIRMED pharmaceuticals that utilized Aborted Fetal Cell lines in development/manufacturing.
To publish all pharmaceuticals would require an extensive database and years and years of research.
This is WHY we are pushing hard for the Human Cell Labeling Act
Related Articles and Information
Research Exhibit – The Use of Fetal Cell Lines in Common Medications | Children of God for Life
Information on Recombinant DNA Drugs | Children of God for Life
Bebtelovimab – Recently Authorized Monoclonal Antibody | Children of God for Life
Let’s Get A Few Things Cleared Up: Testing, Cell Lines and Fetal Tissue | Children of God for Life
Are Monoclonal Antibodies Abortion-Tainted Drugs? | Children of God for Life
Are monoclonal antibodies abortion-tainted drugs?
Some are and some are not. A monoclonal antibody is an antibody (a protein) that is produced by a single clone of cells and has identical antibody molecules on the protein. The one of greatest interest these days is REGEN-COV from Regeneron. It is a combination to two monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab (REGN10933) and imdevimab (REGN10987). It was developed and tested with the HEK-293T aborted fetal cell lines according to Regeneron’s publication in Cell journal. Another preprint paper in collaboration with Regeneron describes the use of Freestyle 293 cells in the production of REGN10933 and REGN10987, as does this paper in Science journal. We have not been able to verify whether this same production process is used in manufacturing.
Other monoclonal antibodies of recent interest are (see links for scientific information):
- Sotrovimab – Biologics code is VIR-7831. Lenti X-293T cells are used in production; see lines 339 and 415. These cells are a subclone of HEK 293. A subclone is a cell that has been genetically modified from a previous instance. This is often done to alter (enhance or attenuate) a cell’s expression characteristics. In this case, the ‘parent’ HEK-293 cell is modified by a DNA segment to enhance the expression of viral proteins and increase the ease of transfection (infection).
- Casirivimab – Uses ACE2-293, HEK-293T, Freestyle 293 cell lines; see above information for REGEN-COV.
- Imdevimab – Uses ACE2-293, HEK-293T, Freestyle 293 cell lines; see above information for REGEN-COV.
- Bamlanivimab – Biologics code is LY-Cov555. This paper describes the use of HD 293F cells in production of the antibody. The Supplemental Materials of this pre-print paper describe the use of the same cells in production and testing.
- Tocilizumab – Also called RoActemra. Produced in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells; see Product Review. The Assessment Report also does not describe the use of any aborted fetal cell lines.
- Bebtelovimab – Biologics code is LY-CoV1404. This recently authorized monoclonal antibody relied on a number of adaptations of the HEK-293 cell line throughout the development process. Expi293, HEK-293T, 293T- ACE2 and 293 flpin-TMPRSS2-ACE2 cell lines were used, along with insect cell lines, CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) and several adaptations of Vero-6 non-human primate cells. This publication in ScienceDirect details the use of the various cell lines.
Dupilumab (Dupixent) – This monoclonal antibody was developed and tested using CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cell lines. The same medium is used for production purposes. Please refer to the EMA reference documents for more details.
Updated Information on New Antivirals
The Everything was tested on HEK Lie by Dr Paul Casey, reprinted with permission.