ATIT officials explained that the protein they extracted is identical to the human clotting factor IX, which is used in treating hemophilia type B.

Besides factor IX, there are several other clotting proteins responsible for different types of hemophilia, such as factor VIII for type A and factor XI for type C.

ATIT officials said that medicines for hemophilia are extremely expensive -- the production cost of hemophiliac medication is about US$66,000 (approximately NT$2.2 million) per gram, and hundreds of thousand of NT dollars may be spent monthly on the medicine for a single hemophiliac.

They pointed out that the high price of conventional medicines is mainly due to the need to synthesize clotting proteins in small quantities in laboratories, or to extract them from human or animal plasma.

However, the new method can produce greater amounts in a relatively simple process -- the volume of clotting proteins in pig milk is 100-400 times that in human plasma, they noted. "Pig milk extract could eventually become an affordable alternative for hemophiliac patients."