Pork firm Smithfield sets up organ supply unit for regenerative meds sector

12-Apr-2017 - Last updated on 11-May-2017 at 13:55 GMT

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Smithfield Foods Inc. has tasked a new bioscience unit with turning byproducts from its pork business into supplies for regenerative meds and drug firms.

The firm – which is part of Chinese meat processing organistion WH Group – already sells pork byproducts to pharmaceutical companies which use them to make treatments for conditions like indigestion, hypothyroidism and deep vein thrombosis

The bioscience unit will build on this established supply business according to Smithfield, which said the aim is to explore methods and technologies for addressing concerns such as tissue regeneration and the availability of viable human organs for transplantation.

Military applications

Smithfield Bioscience already has joined a number of projects.

The firm has teamed up with the US Government backed Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (AMRI) and a consortium of academics to develop technologies that can produce replacement tissues for soldiers injured in combat.

Smithfield Bioscience has also partnered with researchers developing immunotherapies at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University.

Courtney Stanton, vice president of the Smithfield Bioscience said the firm “is well-positioned to help the US medical and pharmaceutical industry achieve significant, scalable developments in biologics."