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The Immunoglobulin produced from egg yolk is considered a natural product and as such, fall under the technical category of a nutraceutical, or a food supplement. Linear scale up of birds, increasing numbers as per production batch and simple affinity purification would certainly be successful. Due to robustness of IgY the temperature would ease in setting up processes of production, purification and packaging.
IgY antibodies can be delivered in a variety of formats as a therapeutic (capsule, liquid, aerosol, or topical cream) and it can be easily integrated into a variety of foods and nutritional products. With recent trends in consumer preference for natural materials to alleviate health concerns, the increasing healthcare costs and the recent advances in drug delivery systems, IgY is likely to shift from its main functional food status towards medicine in the foreseeable future. Pharmaceutics in the broad sense that contain not only immunological applications such as therapeutic and prophylactic ones, but also in other areas including preparation of medicines, cosmetics and others. Passive immunotherapy by antigen-specific IgY acquires a special value as a tool for infection control and immunologic research with global commercial application as raw material for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.
IgY for human application has created ripples in the biomedical sphere, with its broad potential only now starting to unfold. Powdered whole eggs or yolks have been used as an inexpensive alternative for the IgY treatment of enteric diseases in veterinary medicine. As a functional foodstuff, IgY is well positioned to expand its niche in both pharmaceutical and dietary supplement areas. With the expected application of advances in drug delivery systems to IgY delivery, IgYs are destined for industrialization and are expected to devolve toward other important clinical targets including microbial toxins or other high value targets such as metabolic syndrome.
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