An anti-blood-clotting drug made using the milk of genetically engineered goats has received approval for use in Europe, Nature magazine reported on Tuesday.

The transgenic drug, marketed as ATryn, was approved for use in the European Union by the European Medicines Agency. It is the first time that the agency has given the go-ahead for a drug from a transgenic animal source, according to Nature.

The anti-thrombin drug, has been developed by GTC Bio-therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based company, which engineers goats to express a human protein called anti-thrombin that stops the formation of blood clots.

The drug will be given to anti-thrombin-deficient patients when they give birth or undergo surgery, where blood-thinning medicines could lead to runaway bleeding.

The drug is also undergoing large-scale human trials in the United States for further medical use, the report said.

Source: Xinhua