Biotechnology Revolution will Exceed Internet Revolution in its Impact
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
According to experts, biotechnology will change the shape of things more extensively than what the Internet have done. Biotech companies are already driving economic growth and innovation.
A book titled “The Coming Biotech Age” by Richard Oliver, author of “The Shape of Things to Come” provides an accessible overview of biotechnology business, its implications for all industries and the vast opportunities, according to a review.
The completion of the Human Genome project will increasingly lay bare the genetic basis of various diseases and and physical problems. Biotechnology works with genes and is proving itself capable of finding cures for the diseases and problems, at a more fundamental level than earlier symptoms based treatment.
And working at gene levels can also change the charateristics of organisms, such as crops and animals. Crops that are more pest resistant and higher yielding have already appeared in the market. So have opposition to them on the grounds of suspected health impact. As things develop, their shape can indeed take a very different form.
According to Amazon.com review, the book goes far into the possibilities of altering and creating new “bioterials” and even inoorganic new materials.
The Coming Biotech Age
Tags: biotech business, biotechnology
Posted in biotechnology, business, crop science, diseases, genetic modification, technology commercialization | No Comments »
Generics and Branded Drugs: Are they the same?
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
New drugs require years of research and clinical trials to prove their efficacy, and compliance with a lot of formalities before they are approved for the market. Pharmaceutical companies cite these as reasons for prolonged patent and other kinds of brand protection.
Branded products are priced high and the ordinary consumer often finds them unaffordable. This is particularly true in developing countries where the income levels of most people are low.
Generics are drugs without a brand name that are made using the research and trial findings used for the branded version. Even generic drugs have to conform to the same safety standards as branded drugs.
Generic drugs are cheaper because the companies making them did not incur the heavy development and promotional expenses of the original brand name drug. Additionally, because several companies are making the generic version, competition drives down the price.
While the above is the scenario at the introduction of innovative new drugs, pharmaceutical companies have been accused of making minor changes to an existing, proven drug and claiming brand name protection for the modified version. In this case, they would not have incurred any heavy research and development expenses and the claim for continued protection is not justified.
Brand name protection prolongs the period of lifesaving drugs becoming available at affordable prices. As a result, there is a strong movement for restricting protection to as low a period as possible.
Read about generic drugs at the FDA Website.
Tags: branded drug, drug efficacy, generic drug, patent protection, r&d costs
Posted in biopharmaceutical, business, intellectual property, patenting | No Comments »
Nanotechnology Industry Development: Several Obstacles
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Nanotechnology involves working at the levels of atoms and molecules. At nanoscale, properties of materials can change from what they are in normal state. Neutral materials can exhibit toxicity at nano scale, for example.
Nanomaterials and the technology can also affect environment, and raise social and ethical issues. Regulatory oversignt is needed to ensure that the technology is handled responsibly. The problem is that regulators typically do not know what to regulate in this new field.
Regulations can often hinder the development of the technology and industry. In a recent example, a “diabetes phone” that used biotechnology developments to help patients to check their blood-sugar levels, and then use information technology developments to seek remote treatment from doctors, could not be successfully marketed in Korea as local medical regulations did not allow remote treatment.
Business funding practices might also not be helpful for development of industry using such innovative and unproven technologies. A study in India found that funding stopped at academic research stage. Bureaucratic procedures involved in releasing government funding discourages entrepreneurs in such new technologies.
Developing countries also face the problem of inadequate venture capital availability to fund enterprises in new technologies. Typically, entrepreneurs have to depend on private funding.
Knowledge transfer from academia to manufacturing industry is also not well-developed in these new technologies.
Read about a study conducted in India on nanotech industry development problems in a dnaindia report.
Tags: industry development, new technology industries, regulatory and infrastructural framework
Posted in business, emerging technologies, environment, nanotech business, nanotechnology, technology commercialization | No Comments »
Industrial Convergence Faces Legal and other Obstacles
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Recently the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in Korea announced that it is crafting legislation to overcome the obstacles in the way of developing industrial convergence. By industrial convergence is meant the coming together of different technologies, nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology and cognitive science, to develop and market products of value.
The Ministry cited as example the problems faced by a recent product, the “diabetes phone” that allowed users to check their blood-sugal levels and get remote treatment from doctors. The product combined the latest in biotechnology and information technology. However, inadequate sales and existing regulations on medical treatment forced the product off the market.
Government categorized the device as medical equipment and did not allow remote treatment owing to safety concerns.
Convergence of technologies are bringing many innovative solutions into the market, which are being exploited by companies in the advanced economies such as those of U.S., Europe and Japan. However, outdated legal and institutional factors prevent their development in many other countries.
Korea wants to get out of this situation and has formed a committee to craft new legislation that will tap the synergies possible through convergence of industries. If each industry goes on its own traditional path, the benefits of such synergy will be lost to the society.
Korea wants to adopt policies that will allow deregulation, R&D support for local companies and commercialization of convergence technologies.
Read the news at JoongAngDaily.
Tags: convergence of technologies, emerging technologies
Posted in business, emerging technologies, industrial convergence, technology commercialization | No Comments »
CropLife International
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
CropLife describes itself as a “global federation representing the plant science industry. On the industry’s behalf, we address international developments in crop protection and agricultural biotechnology.”
The About page of the organization’s website goes on to add: “We promote approaches that enhance sustainable agriculture in the interests of farmers, consumers and the environment. CropLife International aims to provide transparent information to its stakeholders and welcomes open dialogue with parties interested in the future of food and farming.
“We are committed to supporting the safe and responsible use of the industry’s products in order to provide a secure, varied, healthy and affordable diet for consumers.”
Tags: agriculture, biotechnology, crop yield
Posted in biotechnology, crop science | No Comments »
Electronic Medical Records Offer Demonstrable Benefits
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
If patients have to complete fresh paper forms every time they see a new doctor, chances of errors are high. Patients can easily forget the names of drugs and its dosages, dates of illnesses and surgeries and even some old ailments and treatments. The results will be incomplete medical records.
The entries on the paper forms can also be illegible, in addition to being inaccurate and incomplete. As a result, doctors will be working with inadequate background details.
On the other hand, if the patient opts for an on-line medical records sytem, entries can be made just once and it will remain there. Any time the person visits a new doctor an up-to-date record can be printed out and presented to the doctor.
The patient-oriented system can also be tailored to doctors’ practices. The front end will look like the doctor’s or hospital’s Web site, and patient records can be updated either by the patient or the doctor.
The medical records created electronically can also travel with the patient, being transferred to a new hospital or doctor if the patient moves residence, for example.
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act encourages such meaningful use of electronic technology by providing incentives to healthcare professionals and organizations. The new funding program is expected to enhance the spread of electronic health records.
Read more details at JournalGazette.
Tags: better healthcare, electronic health records, information technology, patient benefits
Posted in healthcare, information technology | No Comments »
Is Our Pedagogy Scientific?
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Are educational institutions checking that the pedagogical practices they follow are really based on evidence-based research? Or are they just practices handed down from generation to generation or practices that look “practical and sound” as everbody with commonsense can understand?
As in every other area, fads can pop up in the educational field also. These fads, if they do work, might have undesirable “side effects” that we do not want. Or they might be pure fads with no real impact on teaching effectiveness.
According to one author, research indicates that student achievement variations depend primarily on the students themseves (50%). However, 30% of the achievement variance could be attributed to the role of teachers. Unlike conventional wisdom, it seems that the home, school, principal and peers make very little difference to student achievement.
The major factors that influence achievement include Feedback, Student’s cognitive ability, Instructional quality and Direct instruction, according the author. Three of the four fall under the role of the teacher. Even computer assisted education and individualization of teaching are ranked lower for their effect on student achievement.
However, computer-assisted education, for example, has moved much since the time of this view. What effect can modern developments like cognitive tutor can have on student achievement is to be seen. Cognitive tutors supposedly monitor how students go about their learning, and direct them towards “best practices.”
Read a blog post at Pedagogy Science.
Tags: cognitive ability, pedagogy, student achievement, teacher role, teaching
Posted in cognitive science, cognitive tutor, education, learning | No Comments »
Information Technology for African Agricultural Productivity
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
AfricaFertilizer.org website seeks to facilitate exchange of information about Soil Fertility, Fertilizers and good agricultural practices in Africa. Its goal is to become the standard reference site on matters of African agriculture for evey player in the field.
Food insecurity is a major problem in Africa owing to many reasons, including decline in soil fertility and rapid increase in population. To cope with the problem, Africa needs a Green Revolution that will push up agricultural productivity. The Abuja declaration of June 2006 advocated increased use of both organic and inorganic fertilizers to initiate the revolution.
African farmers, who are mostly poor, do not have adequate access to fertilizers. The Abuja declaration went on to advocate improving African farmers’ access to fertilizers. Farmers also need to be educated on proper fertilizer use and better agricultural practices.
AfricaFertilizer.org is a forum to disseminate and exchange information on different aspects of fertilizer, soil fertility and other agricultural issues in Africa.
Read more about AfricaFertilizer.org and African agriculture.
Tags: africa, agriculture, fertilizer, information dissemination, information technology, soil fertility
Posted in education delivery, information delivery, information technology | 2 Comments »
U.S. Government and Cloud Computing
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
The U.S. Chief Information Officer said the government wanted to put data such as health-care pricing information on the Web. Private companies like Microsoft, Google and Amazon are offering databases and programs through Web servers, helping users save on local storage.
By adopting the same strategy, US government can help save on U.S. storage needs and cut expenses. The government had spent over $500 billion in the past decade on data centers and other technology initiatives. This has led to duplication of stored data and applications, to huge increase in costs and to high consumption of energy.
The CIO of U.S. government is advocating cloud computing in government. Cloud refers to the Internet, and cloud computing involves moving data and applications from local user servers to Web servers managed by Web service providers. Google and Microsoft have introduced government-focused clouds to tap the potential market.
If the government embraces cloud computing it could signal that this option is a secure option, and more businesses could opt for the solution. Global spending on cloud computing is expected to top $44 billion in 2013, according to IDC.
Cloud computing can also help government employees to collaborate better and be more productive, and lead to dramatically reduced government costs.
Read about the initiatives at BusinessWeek.
Tags: cloud computing, information technology, web applications, web storage
Posted in cloud computing, e-governance, information technology | No Comments »
New Biotech Antibiotic Kills Bacteria Directly
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Clinical trial data for PMX-30063, a defensin-mimetic antibiotic compound developed by PolyMedix, Inc. was presented at the 8th World Congress on Trauma, Shock, Inflammation and Sepsis (TSIS) in Munich, Germany.
A common problem with antibiotics is that bacteria develop resistance to the drug over a period of time. PMX-30063 has characteristics that prevent such resistance being developed, according to the presentation.
The data showed that the drug kills Staph bacteria in human serum blood samples at specific therapeutic dose levels. Phase 1B dose-escalation clinical study had demonstrated that the administration of multiple doses of PMX-30063 is safe and well-tolerated.
PMX-30063 is a small molecule mimetic of human host-defense proteins, which are highly effective antimicrobial defense systems found in virtually all living creatures. The drug disrupts bacterial membrane directly thus making development of bacterial drug resistance unlikely.
Unlike other antibiotics that act by stopping bacterial reprodcution, PMX-30063 kills bacteria directly, and is fast acting. The drug is said to be the first antibiotic with this mechanism of action.
Read the news release at Market Watch.
Tags: antibiotic, biotech drug, drug resistance
Posted in biopharmaceutical, biotechnology | No Comments »
