SwampFox

Stem Cells: Private Sector Can Do It Better

Submitted by: John Warner on Aug 28, 2001 at 5:00 am Tagged with: General Archives Source:

Swamp Fox

August 28, 2001
Commentary
Stem Cells: Private Sector Can Do It Better
By Robert Oldham. Dr. Oldham is chairman of the South Carolina Biotechnology
Association and CEO of Cancer Therapeutics, Inc.
Wall Street Journal
President Bush's decision on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research
continues to arouse controversy. But much of the debate overlooks a very
important question: Who can do the work better? The government or the private
sector?
To answer that question, look at the race to decode the human genome, pitting a
private company called Celera against the National Institutes of Health. That
contest began when the government decided to fund selected laboratories to
sequence genes. But the machines that do the sequencing were developed by the
private sector, so they were available to anyone with the money to purchase
them. That opportunity was eagerly seized by Craig Venter, president of Celera,
working in conjunction with Perkin-Elmer, a company that makes gene-sequencing
equipment.
The original projected NIH completion date was 2005. But Celera quickly raced
ahead of the lumbering government project. The human genome sequence in a rough
form was unveiled last year jointly by Celera and the NIH. Public relations
aside, let there be no doubt: It was the private sector that was responsible
for the rapid success of gene sequencing.
So did it make sense to spend billions in government money to achieve something
that Dr. Venter's private company achieved faster and better? Many in the
scientific community would say yes -- and for much the same reason they insist
on federal funding of stem-cell research. Public-sector scientists believe they
should pursue knowledge unfettered by grubby commerce. They fret that private
companies would develop proprietary data and then deny society the fruits of
their labors.
But does this distrust of capitalism make any sense? We don't depend on the
government to develop life-saving medicines. Virtually all new drugs come from
private pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that spend billions on
research because they know they can profit from it. The research dollars are
provided through our capital markets.
That's how a free-market economy works. Valuable goods are delivered not
because of the altruism of the producers but because they are risking their
money in the hopes of profiting. If this principle works in every other sphere
of our economy, why not in medicine too?
This is not to deny any role at all for government funding. Perhaps, instead of
funding a massive research effort on the human genome, the government would
have been better off letting Celera do the work and then purchasing the results
for public use.
Another public-private race is now gearing up in the stem-cell field. A number
of biotech companies, such as Advanced Cell Technology and Geron, are vying to
play the role of Celera. Their chances of success have improved considerably
because of the restrictions President Bush has imposed on federally funded
research. Scientists working with government funds are forced to use only the
60 stem-cell lines already in existence, some of them not even located in the
U.S.
The private sector labors under no such handicap. Private companies will be
free to create more stem-cells lines from additional embryos that are going to
be discarded by in vitro fertilization clinics. There is a tremendous
entrepreneurial opportunity here -- stem-cell research may some day deliver
cures for Parkinson's and other deadly diseases -- and there is no shortage of
companies that will rise to the challenge. It is possible that, as the private
sector races ahead, the Bush administration will find itself coming under
growing pressure to allow more stem-cell lines to be used in federally funded
research.
But whatever the government does, its money may be wasted. In stem cells, as in
human genomes, the private sector will lead the way.