Updates on biotechnology

BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization), a global organization with over 1,000 corporate members from 34 countries, held its annual meeting on June 6 to 9, 2004 in San Francisco, California. Issues and my comments follow:

Public perception of biosciences: The key toward moving forward

Acceleration of scientific development leads inexorably to an ever-widening gap between experts and society at large, including public institutions, the media and NGOs. Policy-makers are more likely to be influenced by the general public’s "gut" reaction to a given issue than they are in focusing on the long-term interest of these very same people. Closing the gap between fact and fiction and helping the public to deal with science-based, ethically sound progress is crucial to the steady evolution of mankind.

Prof. David McConnel, of Trinity College, Dublin who represented the European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES), described the organization’s objective to benefit all, not just developed countries, by establishing and developing a platform for outstanding scientists from the Developing Countries and Emerging Economies (DECs) in the life sciences and biotechnology to:

• Give voice in Europe through various consultations and dialogues to the needs and competencies of the DECs;

• Apply European competencies for the benefit of the poor and needy; and

• Strengthen the global responsibilities of EU programs in research, education, innovation, application and implementation.

A few years ago, Dr. Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace and who served as its president at one time, felt the need to stand for something rather than against something. He considers the current Greenpeace assault on biotechnology a direct result of the collapse of the Berlin Wall when leftists moved in and began to use Greenpeace language. He describes environmental extremism as an abandonment of science and technology. Indeed, he believes Greenpeace is now defined as being anti-human, anti-science and technology, anti-trade and globalization, anti-business, and anti-civilization.

To help address current concerns, Dr. Moore refers to the Sensible Environmentalist. The concerns of such an environmentalist are renewable energy and materials, voluntary population management, development of logically consistent global analysis, increased wood usage, learning to be better gardeners of the Earth, controlling urban sprawl, and reversing deforestation in the tropics.

Perspectives on the current and future states of the biotechnology industry

A discussion featuring top executives of Genentech, Chiron, Biogen, Idec and Amgen revealed that the biotechnology healthcare industry has spent a lot of time, effort and money understanding pathways leading to diseases. The knowledge gained is shared with the public through publication in scientific journals. The main obstacles to progress are too stringent regulatory agency standards and financing.

Panelists from Genentech, Affymetrix, IBM and Invitrogen provided the following insights regarding future developments in biotechnology.

Traditional biology will morph into systems biology. Heretofore, research has consisted of examining phenomena and then testing hypotheses. In the actual world, processes occur in a complex, ever-changing system. Thus, the birth of systems biology that integrates huge amounts of data to develop models and generate hypotheses. The idea that one gene may be correlated with a specific disease may no longer hold. With vast amounts of data generated by traditional biology coupled with the massive capability that information technology can put to bear on genomics, the best gains in maintaining health lie ahead. The gains will likely be in predictive capability.

Communicating the wonders of biotechnology

At the lunchtime plenary session, Brooke Shields stole the show. Star of the movie Blue Lagoon and model of Calvin Klein apparel, after obtaining a degree from Princeton, she wanted what any woman would want – a baby. But she had some difficulty with her uterus. She and her husband just could not produce a baby. Enter biotechnology. Using molecules whose names she said she had difficulty pronouncing, she was able to convert one of her previously frozen eggs into what she happily called her "popsicle baby." Ms. Shields proved to be a very effective spokeswoman for biotechnology.

Agricultural biotechnology

On the second day of BIO2004, at any given time from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., there were 17 simultaneous sessions covering biodefense, business development, drugs, global health, ethics, finance, industry and the environment, intellectual property rights and legal issues, policy, regulatory issues, science, technology transfer and licensing and food and agriculture. Some topics in the agricultural arena follow:

Biobanking

There is enormous biodiversity worldwide which remains largely unexplored. Biobanking is an approach to conservation and sustainable utilization.

A scientist at the Missouri Botanical Garden (www.mobot.org) described how a staff of 150 people, 50 of whom have doctorates, have systematically classified and kept more than 5.5 million species in Missouri. Some small amounts of samples are available for R&D work.

The research leader of the USDA, ARS, Plant Genetic Resources Conservation Unit (www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/) described US-taxpayer-paid services provided by this government unit. The collection focuses principally on crops, i.e., clover, sorghum, peanut, eggplant, okra, watermelon, chili pepper, cowpea, mungbean, etc. The collection of seeds and tissues from a large number of genera comes from 178 different countries. Plant materials are kept at 40C and -180C. Seeds are replanted before degradation commences. 87.2 percent of 72,758 accessions are backed up. Anybody in the world can request and get a small amount of sample from this facility.

While these two agencies willingly share genetic resources, many small countries put up enormous barriers to development of existing genetic stock without putting up resources to catalogue, let alone maintain, their genetic diversity. A balance must be made to encourage developers to invest resources while ensuring that the interests of indigenous people are protected.

Biopharming

The production of beneficial proteins and peptides through the use of biotechnology in agricultural crops provides the enabling technology for delivering human health benefits. Although the benefits from the technology can be great, there is potential risk as well. Risk assessments are crucial and Iowa has focused a major initiative on the development of risk assessments to this area.

A farmer from that state grows corn containing molecules of pharmaceutical value. To successfully produce these molecules in commercial quantities, there must be certainty that the crop used to produce them is adequately sequestered. He showed photographs of his farm where the transgenic corn is grown in the middle of soybeans. He described measures to ensure that all the corn is destroyed after harvest. The next step in the production of the desired molecules is extraction and isolation. This is done using modern chemical methods. Growing the crop and producing the desired molecules has been made possible by cooperation among regulators, the industry, educational institutions and farmers. A panel evaluates risks, an advisory board examines the work, and a legal firm maintains a risk management system. All throughout the project, there is communication, particularly with regulatory agencies. Nonetheless, because this manner of producing drug molecules is so novel, some aspects of the whole process are still under evaluation. If successful, this manner of producing molecules of medical value by producing them in crops will provide inexpensive, uniform, quality drugs.

Using biotech to improve food and crops: Pacific Rim challenges in international trade

GOs and the media often present unbalanced and inaccurate characterizations of crops improved through biotechnology that do not acknowledge the benefits these crops bring to consumers, farmers and the environment. Such mischaracterizations can lead to the development of imaginary barriers to the adoption of agricultural biotechnology products.

Australia has huge potential, being a major exporter of wheat and canola. With its constraints (fragile, low nutrition soils and limited water), it must adopt the world’s best practice and technology. Genetically modified cotton and canola have been assessed to offer distinct advantages. The regulatory system of Australia’s federal government has a transparent, clearly defined process in line with world standards in evaluating process. Unfortunately, the state system thus far has been characterized by lack of a defined process to evaluate key issues driving the moratoria, varying levels of transparency, inconsistent treatment of evidence, and inconsistent policy across the states.

A spokesman for the International Biotechnology Regulatory Services who was present at the meeting of the parties for implementation of the Cartagena Protocol in February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur bewailed the fact that the agricultural biotechnology proponents at that meeting were badly outnumbered by people who were against agricultural biotechnology. For advocates of GMOs, there must be involvement in all events which affect agricultural biotechnology. He said the Cartagena Protocol is flawed in that it does not emphasize the benefits that biotechnology offers and makes no distinction as to whether developers of the technology are huge multinational companies or the public sector. In fact, a substantial portion of the development of innovative research in agricultural biotechnology is done through publicly funded research. The public research community must mobilize and act as a major stakeholder in the international decision making process that seriously affects its capability to deliver goods to the public. Time to get involved is of the essence.

Quoting verbatim from newspaper articles, I described the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) tactics of Norwegian Terje Traavik. Responsible media, however, published the government and private sectors’ response to Traavik’s data-poor pronouncement. The lesson is that responsible media practitioners are an asset in counteracting FUD tactics. Again quoting from newspaper articles, I described how the failure of government institutions to arrive at a unified front may slow down more widespread adoption of GMOs in the Philippines.

Take-home message

Biotechnology has taken off. Informed, principled, energetic and reflective men and women are on the move growing the next sunrise industry. There are hurdles, i.e., in public acceptance, ethical issues, meeting development costs versus final consumer costs, intellectual property issues, evolving regulatory guidelines and addressing the Cartagena Protocol. My gut feeling is that these men and women are passionate enough about their craft that they will effectively channel their collective efforts to bring better health, more and better food to mankind in a world more fit to live in than the present one.

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Benigno D. Peczon, Ph.D. in Chemistry, is a Balik Scientist who performed both basic and applied research. He currently serves as the president of the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines Inc. E-mail him at [email protected].