March 28, 2000 / Genetic Engineering News
National headlines were made yesterday and today, as thousands of protesters
peacefully rallied against biotech at the Biotechnology Industry
Organization's
International Conference, held this year at the Hynes Convention Center in
Boston. BIO President Carl Feldbaum took it in stride, noting that the
increased exposure has helped the meeting to a record 9200 attendees, and
welcoming a dialogue with opponents of genetic engineering.
In fact, at the opening plenary session, Roger Beachy, Ph.D., Director of
the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, raised some of the benefits of
genetically engineered crops, including: the reduction in use of pesticides,
by the millions of gallons; decreased health risks from chemicals to farmers
around the world; increased production of food crops, increased soil quality
and topsoil retention and greater profits for farmers.
Luncheon speaker Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) recounted, "When I first went to
the Senate 37 years ago, biotechnology was just a word. We have seen
extraordinary breakthroughs and this next year begins the life sciences
century."
Peter S. Lynch, Vice Chairman, Fidelity Management and Research Co., added,
"There is no immediate payback to biotechnology, people need to understand
that. Yet, 25 biotech companies will pay $1 billion dollars in income tax
this year." In an afternoon economic forum, Gary Pisano, Ph.D., from the
Harvard Business School and a member of Genetic Engineering News' Scientific
Board, said the molecular biology revolution will require fundamental
alterations in the business models biotech companies employ to stay viable.
He enunciated four major changes in the biotech landscape: 1) Instead of a
lack of new drugs being the bottleneck, development will be the problem, as
firms will have too many projects in the hopper; 2) as firms compete in the
same markets, product life cycles will shorten to just a few years; 3)
better targeted drugs will lead to market fragmentation, thus instead of
blockbuster billion-dollar-drugs, there will be many $100-$200 million
drugs; 4) there will be a blurring of the distinctions between products and
services, instead of products, firms will sell value-added services as a
component of the product.
Closing the opening plenary was Christopher Reeve, actor, director and
activist, who envisions scientific research as problem solving. "Research is
not, now, speculative. It isn't just throwing money at people in a think
tank to see if they come up with something. It really is problem solving,"
said Reeve. He noted that biotech companies can cooperate in science, make
profits on products and help the public to heal at the same time. After a
standing ovation for the wheelchair-bound Reeve, Feldbaum officially opened
the conference. Magainin Issued Additional Patent for IL9 Asthma Gene
Magainin Pharmaceuticals Inc. was issued a new patent by the United States
Trade and Patent Office (No. 6,037,149) covering the composition of matter
and methods of use for Met-IL9, a mutant form of interleukin-9 discovered by
Magainin scientists. Individuals who inherit only Met-IL9 appear to be less
susceptible to allergy and asthma. The patent claims encompass the use of
Met-IL9 to diagnose, and generate therapeutics for the treatment of asthma
and allergy. This issuance supplements the Company's intellectual property
position in the respiratory area, including the existing IL9 patents, and a
patent covering the use of Magainin proprietary small molecule compounds to
treat asthma.
(posted without permission)
