EmTech Spl: Customized medicine to be a reality?

NEW DELHI, INDIA: “Development of  biological sciences –genomics, proteomics and systemic biology and their integration with allied sciences is what is going to drive the future,” these were the words with which Dr M.K.Bhan, secretary, Department of Biotechnology opened the session titled 'Advances in Biotechnology' at the first day of EmTech India 2009 organized jointly by MIT and CyberMedia in Delhi today.

Dr Bhan was responding to a query by N Suresh, Chief Editor, Biospectrum on how he thought bio technology was impacting the society as a scientist and policy maker.

Talking about some of the technologies that he thought were going to drive the future, he said, “Low-cost genomic technology is going to help us to decode the whole genome while RNAi therapy could help us to study biology at a systemic level.”

He added that large demands of customized medicine will become real in the next 30 years and what is needed is to make them reproducible and cheaper.

Dr Bhan further reiterated that collaborations with global organizations in the same space are also the key to strengthening R&D  and gave an example of the development of vaccines for rotavirus, malaria and cholera, to name a few, being developed in collaboration with global organizations.

Also of relevance is the fact that the scientific expertise of the country has to be developed in areas where we are lagging behind as is creating intellectual capital before others venture into it.

Dr Bhan also asserted the fact that there is a need to focus on novel initiatives and create a transitional machinery between the government and the industry to grab the opportunities of the future.

Prof. Vijay Chandru, chairman and CEO, Strand Life Sciences, who was instrumental in the development of the Simputer, outlined that the challenge now has shifted from generating data to interpreting it and India is posed to be a leader in this area.

Virtual R&D is increasingly advancing the development of drugs and we have reached a unique position where we can define human disease, he added, although he said that interpreting data that is coming out at an incredible pace remains a challenge.

Illustrating by example he said that generating data for understanding a disease has become cheaper, faster and better, particularly where the cost of sequencing is concerned.

While it cost $ 3 billion in 2003, today it is down to $5000. strand today has built the world’s largest gene sequencing platform called Genespring and has also built virtual organ models with the creation of the first artificial liver.

Taking the discussion on future technologies a little further , Dr. Gita Sharma, chief scientific officer, Xcelris Labs, said that in the next 5 years will see SIP analysis tags with our driver’s license.

Today we work with stem cells which are more physiologically relevant as opposed to in vivo studies, which are going to soon be a thing of the past, she added.

Dr Bhan shared that RNAi interface with nanoscience along with targeted cell therapy, imaging, drug delivery, generics, vaccine development, low cost healthcare are some of the other possibilities that biotechnology offers in the future.

He also outlined the need for a more effective leadership  at an apex level in multiple disciplines in biotech. The future thus looks promising for biotechnology in the light of experiences shared by the panelists.

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