"Drugs Standards Group Nixes Plan To Kick Pharma's Crab Blood Habit"

"ZURICH - Horseshoe crabs’ icy-blue blood will remain the drug industry’s standard for safety tests after a powerful U.S. group ditched a plan to give equal status to a synthetic substitute pushed by Swiss biotech Lonza and animal welfare groups.

The crabs’ copper-rich blood clots in the presence of bacterial endotoxins and has long been used in tests to detect contamination in shots and infusions.

More recently, man-made versions called recombinant Factor C (rFC) from Basel-based Lonza and others have emerged.

An industry battle has been brewing, as another testing giant, Lonza’s U.S.-based rival Charles River Laboratories, has criticized the synthetic option on safety grounds."

John Miller reports for Reuters May 30, 2020.