Sourcing pharmaceutical, biological and medical components from livestock in the United States

The practice of using livestock as a source of pharmaceutical, biological and medicinal components is growing. Livestock donors may be kept in research-type settings where the majority of variables are controlled. Livestock or livestock by-products may originate from known farms where there is some input into management, or products may be obtained from random-source livestock at slaughter. In the case of random-source animals, little or no information may be available about the health status of the individual animal or the farm of origin.