Gene Therapy, Claim Jumping and Leadership in Biotech -- Bio, Soc
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So, yes, China is the only country to have given regulatory approval to any kind of gene therapy, and now it has approved a treatment in which a virus attacks tumor cells but not healthy cells in cancer patients. The technique, incidentally, is one which was originally developed by an American company, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and then abandoned.
Oddly enough, the Chinese company, Sunway, has licenced world rights for their treatment. Sunway rederived an analogue to the original version, Onyx-015, by studying a paper published by Onyx's scientists.
There are two interesting trends here. One is the ongoing concern found in many corners of America that our lead in the biotech industry may be short lived if major research on subjects such as cloning and stem cells is restriced to other countries with friendlier regulatory environments. Some have suggested South Korea as one such option.
The other is the ongoing concern many people have about Chinese business' tendency to ignore intellectual property rights and to use technology without paying royalties or otherwise having the legal right to do so.
Curiously, while the technology may prove to be extremely potent, it's fascinating to consider that the most powerful results from this (re-)discovery may come from the public reaction to it (if any). A backlash against the West's manufacturing supply chain (partly located) in China would knock the wheels off the global economy. But that doesn't mean that a sufficiently "egregious" incident might not get people's attention and help encourage a sudden deterioration in relations.
And, of course, it's worth noting that China is yet another country that has the capacity to engage in human augmentation on a large scale should biotech or accelerated learning augmentations ever become widespread.
Future Imperative
So, yes, China is the only country to have given regulatory approval to any kind of gene therapy, and now it has approved a treatment in which a virus attacks tumor cells but not healthy cells in cancer patients. The technique, incidentally, is one which was originally developed by an American company, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and then abandoned.
Oddly enough, the Chinese company, Sunway, has licenced world rights for their treatment. Sunway rederived an analogue to the original version, Onyx-015, by studying a paper published by Onyx's scientists.
There are two interesting trends here. One is the ongoing concern found in many corners of America that our lead in the biotech industry may be short lived if major research on subjects such as cloning and stem cells is restriced to other countries with friendlier regulatory environments. Some have suggested South Korea as one such option.
The other is the ongoing concern many people have about Chinese business' tendency to ignore intellectual property rights and to use technology without paying royalties or otherwise having the legal right to do so.
Curiously, while the technology may prove to be extremely potent, it's fascinating to consider that the most powerful results from this (re-)discovery may come from the public reaction to it (if any). A backlash against the West's manufacturing supply chain (partly located) in China would knock the wheels off the global economy. But that doesn't mean that a sufficiently "egregious" incident might not get people's attention and help encourage a sudden deterioration in relations.
And, of course, it's worth noting that China is yet another country that has the capacity to engage in human augmentation on a large scale should biotech or accelerated learning augmentations ever become widespread.
Future Imperative
posted by Ralph Cerchione | Thursday, November 17, 2005
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