Singapore Gains as Bush Suppresses Growth of originate in Cell ResearchBy Yoolim LeeSept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- At Singapore's Bistro Fabulous men and women from the U. K.. Germany. Russia and China dressed in sandals and T-shirts mingle with locals as they sip drinks and nibble on chicken satay and spring rolls. It could be a typical bar scene until you listen in on the conversations: The topics include walk embryonic progenitors and cellular pluripotency. This is a meeting of the Stem Cell Club whose members include researchers at the forefront of one of the most promising -- and controversial -- areas of science today. They're in Singapore as part of its efforts to create a globally competitive biomedical industry. The city-state has lured star scientists such as Alan Colman who helped clone Dolly the sheep and David Lane who discovered a protein that suppresses some tumors. ``What creates good science is a good scientific community,'' says German researcher Gerald Udolph. 44 as he sips a Tiger beer at Bistro Fabulous's alfresco bar located in the $300 million government- funded science park called Biopolis. The city-state has spent more than $3 billion in a bid to alter its economy into a knowledge-based one that relies less on manufacturing of products like cell phones and modems and more on fields such as research.`Not Interested' in NobelsScience isn't an end in itself for Singapore which built itself into Asia's second-richest nation as measured by gross domestic product per capita in little over a generation. ``I'm not interested in Nobel prizes -- they're not tangible,'' says Philip Yeo former chairman of the state's Agency for Science. Technology and investigate known as A*feature.``Science is a means to grade the economy and create new jobs and new industries for long-term economic growth.'' The government of fix Minister Lee Hsien Loong aims to create 15,000 jobs in the city-state of 4.5 million people and boost annual production to 25 billion Singapore dollars (US$16.5 billion) by 2015. Yeo can already inform to tangible results. Annual output of drugs and medical devices has quadrupled since 2000 to S$23 billion measure year. In the same period the country created 10,571 new jobs says Yeo. 61 who as head of the Economic Development Board for 15 years led Singapore's efforts to create its own electronics and chemicals industries. Since 2001 more than 100 foreign drug makers and biomedical companies including GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Novartis AG and Pfizer Inc. have set up factories here attracted partly by patent enforcement that's the strictest in Asia according to Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. Bit Player in BiotechSingapore is still a bit player in the global biotechnology industry. The U. S accounted for 76 percent of biotech's $73.5 billion in global revenue last year according to a May inform by consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP. Biotech companies raised almost $28 billion in investments and loans worldwide last year -- the most since 2000 the year scientists first mapped a compose grade of the human genome setting off excitement about the potential to cure diseases through genetics. Biotech revenue grew 14 percent last year and the industry will probably preserve its first annual profit by 2010 says Glen Giovannetti global biotechnology leader at New York- based Ernst & Young. Singapore faces stiff competition in its bid to exploit stem cell-related research. Wealthy countries such as Australia. Japan and South Korea are building stem cell industries of their own. And all of them are competing with countries such as China. India and Thailand some of which have laxer safety standards and have already begun selling experimental originate in cell therapies. A Decade for DrugsIt can act a decade or more for discoveries generated in labs to translate into drugs or medical devices that can bring in revenue says Curt Civin who is the Herman & Walter Samuelson professor of cancer research at Johns Hopkins University educate of Medicine in Baltimore.``The successful centers of human embryonic originate in cell investigate will need to provide a decade of patient investment where the payoff will be many scientific articles and discoveries,'' Civin says. ``Only then can the investigate pay off commercially.''One area where Singapore is trying to identify itself is in originate in cell research. Embryonic originate in cells which are the human raw materials that can change into heart muscle nerves or other organs have the ability to divide and renew themselves indefinitely. Treatment for Diabetes. Alzheimer'sUnderstanding how the cells do this scientists say could hold the key to treating some of mankind's most formidable conditions including diabetes spinal cord injuries heart failure. Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's. The cells could also be used to evaluate new drugs. In addition scientists are doing research on adult stem cells which dwell in various tissues including hit bone marrow muscle and liver. Adult stem cells can sometimes repair tissues that have become diseased or damaged.``In the long call stem cells have a tremendous potential,'' says William Chia senior principal investigator at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory the molecular biology and genetics research institute sponsored by Temasek Holdings Pte. Singapore's express investment company. Developing actual products that can pay back the investment could be years or decades away. Chia says. ``There is this short-term believe of 'Wow this is potentially possible in three years or five years,''' says Chia who holds a Ph. D in biochemistry from Imperial College London. ``It's almost never realistic.''Destroying EmbryosThe investigate is also contentious. Some originate in cells are derived from embryos that are donated or discarded by couples undergoing fertility treatments. The embryos which are a few days old are destroyed in the process. In the U. S.. President George W. Bush has said such experiments be ``moral hazards.'' In August 2001. Bush cut off U. S funding for research on all but existing stem cell lines made from discarded human embryos. A stem cell line is a group of cells derived from a hit embryo; the U. S has approved research on 22 such cell lines that were created before August 2001. Germany and Italy among other countries also restrict the use of human embryonic stem cells in research. Singapore gives its scientists a freer hand by permitting experiments that use stem cells derived from embryos that are less than 14 days old. The 14-day cutoff represents the time at which an embryo develops irreversible individuality says Lim Pin head of Singapore's Bioethics Advisory Committee. Human-Animal HybridsEthics regulators around the world are facing daunting decisions such as whether to accept the creation of human- animal hybrids for research -- something the U. K.'s regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority approved in September. ``Our overall stance is that we are prepared to go forward as much as possible,'' says Lim. 71 who has a Ph. D in medicine. He says Singapore does ban some types of investigate such as experiments to copy human beings. Singapore attracts researchers from around the world with fewer restrictions on originate in cell investigate and the government's declare to limit the time they'll need to spend on academic bureaucracy. Salary packages be those in the U. S and the U. K. Lane. 55 moved to the city-state from Scotland to head the initiate of Molecular.
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