A special report on India's biotech scenario: Advancement in biopharmaceutical and health care sectors

India's biotechnology industry has been growing towards new heights in conjunction with the recent economic outburst. The country has the potential to revolutionize biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. In this review, we have highlighted the achievements of India's biotechnology industry, especially biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors that include therapeutics, diagnostics, stem cell research, human healthcare related bioinformatics and animal health care. We have also described regulatory mechanisms involved in India's health care biotech including manpower development.     

Biotechnology,people and markets

In assessing the likely demand for biotechnology products it is not sufficient just to look at what is happening in firms and their immediate market environment. There is no one 'market' for biotechnology products: there are differences between sectors and between countries. You have instead to look at the institutional contexts of the biotechnology product's development. This paper reviews work which has been carried out by social scientists, especially those using 'social shaping' approaches, on the development of new products based on advances in biotechnology and on the creation of markets to go with these products. It examines work on public attitudes to the exploitation of the technology, focusing especially on the issue of social inclusion and exclusion and how biotechnology might make exclusion more likely. It concludes by considering what current differences in public attitudes to the development of some biotechnology-based products might mean for the development of markets for those products in the UK.     

What would constitute success for UK biotechnology in 2005?

This paper presents the rationale and results of a scenario exercise concerning possible future developments in UK biotechnology. The final output of this exercise is a 'consensus' vision of what success might look like for the UK in biotechnology in 2005. The 'success scenario' was developed during a two-day workshop through structured discussions in a group of people active in biotechnology in industry, research agencies, consultancies or academe.     

McGill-trained MD,experiment give June 20 shuttle flight strong Canadian flavour.

Family physician Robert Thirsk, an original member of the Canadian Space Agency''s astronaut program, will be part of the seven-member crew when the space shuttle Columbia lifts off from Florida''s Kennedy Space Centre June 20. In this special report, the 1982 McGill graduate outlines some of the physiologic and materials-science experiments the crew will conduct. Thirsk, a payload specialist and crew medical officer, thinks the findings could have a significant impact on future space missions, medicine and the biotechnology industry.     

英国生物技术成果转化经验及若干启示

英国是生物技术产业发展强国,综合实力仅次于美国.英国生物技术行业今天的繁荣,是与英国几十年对生物技术成果转化的政策扶持和一系列配套措施分不开的.本文回顾了自20世纪50年代起,英国政府在生物技术成果转化方面的政策和经验、政府的引领和投入以及一系列的孵化政策,促成了英国生物技术产业当今的成就.关注英国在生物技术产业成果方面的经验,旨在为我国发展生物技术产业健康、迅速发展提供参考.     

The birth pangs of monoclonal antibody therapeutics: The failure and legacy of Centoxin

This paper examines the development and termination of nebacumab (Centoxin®), a human IgM monoclonal antibody (mAb) drug frequently cited as one of the notable failures of the early biopharmaceutical industry. The non-approval of Centoxin in the United States in 1992 generated major concerns at the time about the future viability of any mAb therapeutics. For Centocor, the biotechnology company that developed Centoxin, the drug posed formidable challenges in terms of safety, clinical efficacy, patient selection, the overall economic costs of health care, as well as financial backing. Indeed, Centocor''s development of the drug brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. This article shows how many of the experiences learned with Centoxin paved the way for the current successes in therapeutic mAb development.     

Biotechnology in Japan: A lesson in logistics? Part I: The political substrate

Japan, like Europe and the USA, has accepted the challenge of biotechnology, which opens up the way towards new fundamental knowledge and capabilities. Government and industry have joined forces to exploit biotechnology as a means of restructuring whole sectors of the country's economy, to ensure their continued viability in the coming decades. The strategy the Japanese have adopted in their bid for world leadership in this area differs from those of the Western countries. The extraordinarily complex infrastructure created for this purpose and its functional efficiency are unparalleled and evince the innate force and ingenuity of Japanese competition.     

加入WTO后我国生物技术产业发展战略

加入WTO后,我国生物技术产业将面临严峻的机遇与挑战,如何面对这一实际情况及采取哪些措施将直接影响目前还处于发展初期的我国生物技术产业,并对我国21世纪生物技术产业的可持续发展具有重要的意义,本文论述了我国生物技术产业发展现状,存在问题及国外发达国家生物技术产业发展现状,政策及法规,提出了加入WTO后适合我国国情的生物技术产业发展战略的建议。     

Development of health biotechnology in developing countries: Can private-sector players be the prime movers?

Health biotechnology has rapidly become vital in helping healthcare systems meet the needs of the poor in developing countries. This key industry also generates revenue and creates employment opportunities in these countries. To successfully develop biotechnology industries in developing nations, it is critical to understand and improve the system of health innovation, as well as the role of each innovative sector and the linkages between the sectors. Countries' science and technology capacities can be strengthened only if there are non-linear linkages and strong interrelations among players throughout the innovation process; these relationships generate and transfer knowledge related to commercialization of the innovative health products. The private sector is one of the main actors in healthcare innovation, contributing significantly to the development of health biotechnology via knowledge, expertise, resources and relationships to translate basic research and development into new commercial products and innovative processes. The role of the private sector has been increasingly recognized and emphasized by governments, agencies and international organizations. Many partnerships between the public and private sector have been established to leverage the potential of the private sector to produce more affordable healthcare products. Several developing countries that have been actively involved in health biotechnology are becoming the main players in this industry. The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of the private sector in health biotechnology development and to study its impact on health and economic growth through case studies in South Korea, India and Brazil. The paper also discussed the approaches by which the private sector can improve the health and economic status of the poor.     

Biotechnology in agriculture: a worldwide upheaval

Without food, mankind has little use for medicine or industry. Agriculture, the oldest biotechnology, is therefore also the most fundamental to our well-being. The application of modern methods of biotechnology represents just the latest step in the march of technology in agriculture. But it coincides with a growing public awareness of the disadvantages that have accompanied previous progress — the environmental, economic and ethical problems that result from intensive farming in developed countries. There is a growing scientific awareness that biotechnology has applications in farming in the developing countries. In the next few pages, Allen Dines' snapshot of public feeling in the US and Joske Bunders' appraisal of appropriate agricultural biotechnology form a résumé of the changing climate in farming.     

The birth pangs of monoclonal antibody therapeutics

This paper examines the development and termination of nebacumab (Centoxin®), a human IgM monoclonal antibody (mAb) drug frequently cited as one of the notable failures of the early biopharmaceutical industry. The non-approval of Centoxin in the United States in 1992 generated major concerns at the time about the future viability of any mAb therapeutics. For Centocor, the biotechnology company that developed Centoxin, the drug posed formidable challenges in terms of safety, clinical efficacy, patient selection, the overall economic costs of health care, as well as financial backing. Indeed, Centocor's development of the drug brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. This article shows how many of the experiences learned with Centoxin paved the way for the current successes in therapeutic mAb development.     

新西兰生物科技及产业现状及特点

新西兰生物产业的规模并不十分引人注目,但却是新西兰经济中不可忽视的组成部分,其生物科技方面的优势领域主要是农业生物技术和生物医学两方面,例如大型动植物、生物安全、环境保护、神经科学、心血管疾病、结核与哮喘、糖尿病和癌症等研究领域。新西兰政府十分重视生物科技和产业的发展,在其2002年颁布的《创新增长框架》计划中,将生物技术列为未来的三大经济增长支柱之一,将加大对生物科技和产业的投入作为新西兰向高技术经济转型的重要举措。     

德国：全方位推进生物科技及产业发展

德国是欧洲第一经济大国,对生物科技一贯十分重视,希望生物技术产业成为继汽车、机械制造之后的第三大产业。促进基础研究和产业化开发;注重发挥自身的优势抢占生命科学前沿制高点;实施一系列科技计划全方位推进生物科技创新;着力后备人才培养;依托区域优势和凸显区域特色,多层面促进生物技术产业发展;政府十分重视工业生物技术的发展,大力扶持创新型生物技术企业。     

Synthetic biology advances and applications in the biotechnology industry: a perspective

Synthetic biology is a logical extension of what has been called recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology or genetic engineering since the 1970s. As rDNA technology has been the driver for the development of a thriving biotechnology industry today, starting with the commercialization of biosynthetic human insulin in the early 1980s, synthetic biology has the potential to take the industry to new heights in the coming years. Synthetic biology advances have been driven by dramatic cost reductions in DNA sequencing and DNA synthesis; by the development of sophisticated tools for genome editing, such as CRISPR/Cas9; and by advances in informatics, computational tools, and infrastructure to facilitate and scale analysis and design. Synthetic biology approaches have already been applied to the metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of industrially important chemicals and for the engineering of human cells to treat medical disorders. It also shows great promise to accelerate the discovery and development of novel secondary metabolites from microorganisms through traditional, engineered, and combinatorial biosynthesis. We anticipate that synthetic biology will continue to have broadening impacts on the biotechnology industry to address ongoing issues of human health, world food supply, renewable energy, and industrial chemicals and enzymes.     

The Power of Association: Its Impact on Willingness to Buy GM Food

Affect, associations, and images associated with food technologies may be important factors influencing consumers’ perception of and willingness to accept new food technologies. The aim of the present study was to investigate free associations evoked by the term “biotechnology” and how they influence behavior. Therefore, participants (N = 632) were asked to name three associations they had in mind when confronted with the term “biotechnology.” After that, respondents indicated how positive or how negative these associations were. Additionally, an equivalent gain task was used to measure participants’ behavioral intentions related to genetically modified (GM) chocolate. Results of a log-linear analysis and a correspondence analysis suggest that attitudes toward biotechnology result in a wide range of associations. Participants having negative attitudes mentioned images related to the environment and industry more often compared with participants having positive attitudes. Results of the equivalent gain task show that willingness to buy GM chocolate can be predicted by the subjects’ three reported associations (p < .001), as well as by their gender (p = .003). The model explains 33.5% of the variance. Affect related to people's associations with gene technology strongly influenced their acceptance of GM foods.     

生物技术产业的知识产权保护和管理

知识产权是一种重要的财产权,它对于一个国家的经济发展和产业进步有着举足轻重的作用。本文探讨了生物技术产业可能涉及的知识产权保护,并着重讨论了其中的专利保护问题,在分析了我国生物技术产业发展知识产权保护的不足之后,指出应加强生物技术产业的知识产权保护意义,健全相应的管理体系,以充分做好生物技术产业的知识产权保护和管理工作,推动我国生物技术产业的健康发展。     

生物经济与生物技术之浅析

生物经济是由生物技术高度产业化推动的人类历史上将达到的第四次经济浪潮,当前我们正处于生物经济的成长阶段。生物经济具有资源依赖性强,产品多样化但垄断性差,生物技术通用性强的显著特点。生物技术产业的崛起将促进新经济发展,对农业、工业、医药、环境保护、新能源开发以及生物战剂的抵御能力产生重要影响。通过总结生物经济的发展态势及现状,指出我国发展生命科学与生物技术的成果和面临的问题,探讨发展对策,以期为推动生命科学和生物技术产业化提供参考。     

Assessing 'success' in biotechnology development in the UK by 2005

This paper presents quantified estimates of the prospective impacts on the UK economy over 2000-05 of the development of biotechnology. The study has proceeded by identifying the key effects that we expect biotechnology to have, determining on the basis of logic and economic theory the qualitative character of the expected economic consequences, constructing scenarios within the Cambridge Multisectoral Dynamic Model of the UK economy to represent these effects and examining and interpreting the consequences revealed by the model's results. Biotechnology is still at such an early stage that attention is mainly focussed on the impact of biotechnology production, rather than diffusion. The industrial application of biotechnology in relation to the overall economy is likely to remain modest through to 2005, but will probably be greater in the longer term as the producing sectors grow in importance and as the technology becomes more pervasive.     

The importance and future of biochemical engineering

Today's Biochemical Engineer may contribute to advances in a wide range of technical areas. The recent Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XXI conference focused on “The Next Generation of Biochemical and Molecular Engineering: The role of emerging technologies in tomorrow's products and processes”. On the basis of topical discussions at this conference, this perspective synthesizes one vision on where investment in research areas is needed for biotechnology to continue contributing to some of the world's grand challenges.     

试论生物经济成长(GREW)战略

生命科学与生物技术的发展推动了"生物经济"概念的形成与生物经济时代的来临,进而导致农业、健康医疗、环保、工业制造等产业的生产与消费方式正在发生深刻变革。分别从生物经济对未来农业、健康医疗、环保及制造业的影响进行分析,提出了生物经济成长(GREW)战略。作为一个战略体系,GREW战略包括相互交叉、相互依存与影响的四个子战略:新型农业(Green biotech based)战略、健康医疗(Red biotech based)战略、绿色环保(Grey or Environmental biotech based)战略,以及绿色制造业(White biotech based)战略。GREW战略的及时提出与逐步形成,对于生物产业发展规划及政策制定具有高度前瞻性意义和指导作用。