Japanese scientists have created hens that can lay multi-million pound “golden eggs” containing an expensive protein used to treat serious diseases such as cancer and hepatitis.

The creation of the so-called “golden eggs” was masterminded by scientists at Japan’s Biomedical Research Institute at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

The new technology involved scientists using new genome editing technology to create hens that can produce eggs containing high quantities of the protein human interferon beta at a low cost.

Scientists first collecting cells that would turn into sperm from cockerel embryos and inserting a gene to produce human interferon beta.

The cells were then reportedly returned to the embryos of other cockerels, with the hatched cockerels later made to mate with wild hens.