Modern biotechnology has led us to time when insulin and antibiotics can be produced from E. coli or yeast. Even Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) can be used to produce some pharmaceutical products. A new way where this biotechnology is aiming is the development of plant- made pharmaceutical.

The pharmaceutical products developed through biotechnology are the basis for the new breakthroughs in medicine that are enabling to treat hepatitis B, hepatitis C, cancers, arthritis, bone fractures, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disorders. Biotechnology has also helped to develop molecular diagnostic devices that are used to find out the target patient population for certain biopharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical products used nowadays are also produced much faster and cheaply thanks to biotechnology. The most common examples of that are human growth hormone, fertility drugs, erythropoietin, clotting factors for hemophiliacs and many more. The genomic knowledge that scientist now have and will gain more in the future is believed to ensure the discovery of thousands of new molecular targets to which new drugs can then be developed.