More than a year has passed since the successful mapping of human genome. It is clear that there is a plethora of opportunities for researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs to use genomic information to understand diseases and develop new drugs. Tie-Boston put together a keynote roundtable with experts from various frontiers in the Biotech industry to discuss challenges and opportunities in this area. Dr. Nouber Afeyan, Senior Managing Director and CEO of Flagship Ventures, Dr. Kevin Davies, Editor-in-Chief, Bio-IT World and Author of “Cracking the Genome”, Dr. Michael Gilman, Senior VP, Research, Biogen Idec Inc. and Dr. Ronald Green, Director, Ethics Institute, Darthmouth College were the speakers.

The first wave of genomic commercial value will come from the impact of genomic tools, methodology and information applied to molecular medicine. “ We are looking at applications for drug discovery process, the drug development process, the early detection of diseases, screening of diseases and other preventive approaches”, said Dr. Afeyan. New genetic diagnostic technologies for Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease are already in the market.

One of the major challenges faced by Pharmaceutical and biotech companies is the time and cost to develop and/or evaluate the drugs. The cycle for developing a drug is 10-15 years and costs over $800 million. Some of the genomics companies have overemphasized “Big Science” and able to get attention because they are the first ones to apply genomics to psychiatry, depression, foot disease, etc .Unfortunately they have not been able to deliver.

Recent reorganizations and mergers have helped the industry to pick pace in research and development. Dr. Gilman gave the example of Biogen and Idec merger in which case each company had a huge product base and together they shared the large infrastructure of Biogen. Computational power has been increasing and companies like IBM, HP, etc. are supplying power systems and providing support in data storage, management and mining.

The industry has tremendous potential for investors, since the profit margins of drugs are high and there is lower market volatility. The people in the industry posses higher skill sets than other industries and thus the industry is less resistant to death.

On the ethical front, all speakers strongly believed in privacy of genetic information of individuals. “Scientists have already linked some of the specific DNA variations with increased risk of common diseases including cancer, asthama, diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, etc.”, said Dr. Davies. Employers and insurance agencies can link the genetic information to health risks and use the information to decide who gets jobs or secures insurance. Dr. Green left the audience with these tantalizing questions - “Who should have access to genetic information? Future marital partners? Educational Institutions? Employers? The Government? Society needs do develop strong protections for genetic privacy?”

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