| Review "Biotechnology and Health" |
| Media Releases |
| Written by Administrator |
| Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:22 |
|
The revolution in biotechnology has been less flashy and slower than the one in information technology which slammed into the world like a tsunami back in 1994. It was more than half-a-century ago that James Watson and Francis Crick, working in Cambridge in 1953, unlocked the structure of DNA and related it to genetic inheritance. Yet, in terms of potential to change everything we know and experience, genetic engineering is by far the most important area of scientific endeavour. It touches on every aspect of world affairs: from the need from alternative fuels, to disease research, to ending hunger by producing high-yield crops. South Africa has produced four Nobel prize-winners for science. Sydney Brenner is the most recent recipient. His efforts in elucidating controlled cell-death during organ development won him the 2002 award, after CAT scan co-inventor Allan Cormack, Max Theiler for his research on yellow fever, and Aaron Klug on macromolecules. These four also, between them, indicate South Africa's greatest obstacles to becoming a world-leader in biotechnology. All four may have been born in South Africa but all completed their most seminal works in laboratories outside of the country. "Biotechnology and Health" a foundational work edited by Joanna Chataway and Wilmot James is a study in the potential for biotechnology, the problems that confront us and the ways we can overcome them. There are few books that can claim to include contributions by two Nobel Prize-winners, Ministers of Finance, venture capitalists and journalists and researchers. Sydney Brenner is joined by David Baltimore, from the California Institute of Technology, and a fellow Nobel laureate. "India and China are forging ahead, but South Africa remains a very small player," says Wieland Gievers, former head of the SA Academy of Sciences. Within Africa, South Africa is almost alone in producing science research, but that says more about the lamentable state of science on the continent that South Africa's prowess. Woefully few high-school leavers meet the most basic requirements for pursuing science-based university studies – a matric pass in higher grade mathematics," says Tamar Kahn, a science writer at the Business Day. There is a tipping point which we have still to reach. While we may produce some scientists able to compete on the international stage and achieve greatness there are too few here to allow them to form the critical mass necessary to attract investment. So they emigrate. Trevor Manuel, our Finance Minister, asks, "How in the domain of research and technology do we reconcile the public good and private interests?" Developing nations have imposed compulsory licensing on health-care products they felt were expensive and necessary. The result, though, has been to drive investors out of those countries. Roger Trythall, from Virtus Clinical Development in Cape Town, observes that Canada repealed their compulsory licensing laws in 1986. "Now, 20 years later, it has almost 500 companies engaged in biotechnology, and has created employment for science and medical graduates and advanced scientific and medical knowledge." Dr Heather Sherwin, who runs Bioventures, South Africa's only biotech venture capital firm, says, "The problem in South Africa is the lack of finance available for seed and start-up companies, the bulk of the capital going into replacement capital, such as management buy-outs and black economic empowerment transactions." This shows in the revenues of firms operating in South Africa in the biotech industry which have a combined annual turnover of some R 300 million. Compare this to China, only a recent entrant, at R 800 million, and India at over R 5 billion. "Biotechnology and Health" offers a high-level understanding of the cascade of concerns that start with primary scientific education in school, that leads to a lack of capacity and understanding both in the private and public sectors. "South African 14-year-olds have been placed last of the 46 participating countries on the 2003 international Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) – coming below other underdeveloped countries such as Ghana, Botswana, Tunisia and Morocco," says Brian Schreuder, deputy director general in the Western Cape Education Department. First we have to get our education system right, then we need to correct our laws so that they protect the innovations of our scientists and researchers, then we need to support early-stage development with grants and public-private partnerships. Lastly, we need to attract the financiers and venture capitalists to commercialise these products. If South Africa is interested in seeing our diseases and development concerns respected we will have to start by creating conditions at home that foster and encourage innovation and business success. "Biotechnology and Health" is an honest account of the situation as it stands and a reflection of the thoughts of the people most intimately involved in navigating the development of a successful biotech industry. |