BNGT Targets 22 Trillion Artificial Blood Market... "Initiates Development of Fully Humanized Blood-Producing Pigs"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] BNGT Biotechnology Research Institute announced on the 26th that it has embarked on developing pigs for producing human-like blood without immune rejection.

A company official stated, “Our goal is to produce pigs equipped with a fully humanized hematopoietic system to mass-extract transfusable artificial blood,” adding, “We have already secured pigs with three genes removed to suppress immune rejection.”

He continued, “We are currently developing pigs with a total of six genes removed and have also identified candidate human hematopoietic-related genes to be inserted into the pigs.”

According to the company, the current blood supply system, which relies on blood donations, is experiencing a severe supply-demand imbalance due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in critically ill patients and confirmed cases. Furthermore, the imbalance is expected to worsen due to a decline in blood donations caused by low birth rates and an aging population. This has led to growing attention on artificial blood recently.

According to Global Information, an overseas market research firm, the global artificial blood market size is estimated to grow from $6.2 billion (approximately 8.92 trillion KRW) in 2022 at an annual rate of 20.5%, reaching $15.6 billion (approximately 22.44 trillion KRW) by 2027. Last year, the government also announced through the ‘Innovation Growth Big 3 Promotion Meeting’ that it would focus investment on research and development for artificial blood production and promote the practical use of transfusable artificial blood by the mid-2030s.

A company official explained, “According to domestic and international experts, pigs have been identified as the safest animals capable of producing artificial blood,” adding, “In August, a research paper from Link?ping University in Sweden reported success in restoring human corneas using collagen extracted from pig skin, which showed less rejection and longer preservation periods than human donor corneas.”

He added, “Recently, it has been reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to allow clinical trials for transplanting organs from genetically modified pigs into humans, which is expected to drive rapid growth in the pig xenotransplantation field.”

BNGT is focusing on producing pigs with 12 gene modifications as the primary goal for xenotransplantation donor pigs through optimal gene combinations. In addition to the xenotransplantation business, the company is also dedicated to developing rapid in vitro diagnostic methods for livestock diseases and various disease model pigs in the livestock bio sector.

A company official stated, “Based on our uniquely established gene modification technology and transgenic pig production technology, we plan to expand our pipeline to pursue diverse revenue generation.”