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| Edited By: Rohit Gandhi |Source: DNA |Updated: Jun 20, 2016, 07:00 AM IST
Early last month in a conference of my company on vision 2020, my boss opened the meeting by narrating a tete-a-tete between him and his friend about longevity and the ability to increase the lifespan of a human being. He was talking about the ability of an entrepreneur to continue to last in tough environments. It was a poignant example of how human beings continue to survive and fight in extremely adverse conditions.
It was just a couple of years ago that a Korean-American hedge fund manager Anthony Joon kyoo Yun launched a $1 million longevity award. The quest to increase the life span beyond the age of 122 years has been on. But as we know the ability to alter genes is something that may turn out to be nightmarish for the common man, as healthcare continues to be controlled by capitalistic providers.
Genetic mapping and its understanding is quite a powerful tool. If we can isolate and remove the agents from the genomes, that the viruses need to replicate to spread, we can gain immunity against diseases as common as influenza (flu) also.
It is often observed that with every niche field of research, economic feasibility has always been a sore point. However, genetic study has proven to surpass this obstacle as well. The Human Genome project is an international research programme aimed at mapping all the 25,000 genes in a human body. The project that was started with an investment of US$ 3.8 billion has generated returns of US$1 trillion and has provided employment to around 300,000 people.
According to the report of State of World Antibiotics 2015, India is the largest consumer of antibiotics, thus increasing the threat of growing resistance to antibiotics among the populace of India. This implies that, in the future, the existing medicines would fail to cure people. Personalised/customised medicines are an apt solution to this growing resistance.
If a person is given the medicine that directly targets the affected genes and can contain the mutation of the virus or any hostile agent, it would not only increase the efficiency of the medicine but also lower the dose of the drug and reduce the risk of side-effects. For example, in early stages of breast cancer, genetic markers show whether chemotherapy would be effective, or if hormone therapy alone is the better option, thus enabling a doctor to choose the right, and in certain cases the less harmful, treatment.
Even differences in ancestry highlight the importance of personalised medicines. For example, European ancestry responds better to drugs like beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors prescribed for hypertension and heart problems than those of African descent.
The Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) helps in identifying the variations and responses to medicines. A human genome has six billion bases with each base tagged like marking pages with colourful post-its. This tagging helps in identifying variations, making it easy to develop personalised medicines. Earlier, it took 10 years to sequence the first human genome at the cost of about US$3 billion, but now, one can sequence a human genome in just two weeks for about US$5,000.
The advances in Genomic study have resulted in the faster development of new drugs as well. For example, genetic testing is being used to pre-select participants for clinical trials, thus, cutting the recruitment time. Now, the research can begin in just three weeks, compared to the 34 weeks for a standard trial. According to an article in Project Syndicate by Joseph Jimenez, last year, worldwide, 61 drugs were introduced compared to the average of 34 drugs in the past decade. And, 40% of these new drugs were for rare and difficult-to-treat diseases.
Thus, genetic study is revolutionising the field of medicine in a major and distinct way.
For Genetic studies, India has a natural advantage due to its diverse population -- thus India can provide an interesting sample size for the research. However, India allocates just 0.8% of its budget to genetic research compared to 1.8% in China and 2.8% in the US, mentioned Eric S Lander, Professor of Biology at MIT in an interview in 2015.
In the recent past, India has increased budgetary allocation to the Department of Biotechnology by almost 12% but there are still several lacunae that need to be addressed. There are many laboratories in India that perform molecular diagnostics tests, but there is a lack of standardisation and quality control in the tests on offer. Additionally, most laboratories do not have trained manpower in providing genetic counselling to selected patients as a follow-up remedy. Even the most advanced science labs in India lack basic infrastructure such as cold storage and sample transportation facilities. Sporadic supply of electricity is a challenge for machines to run uninterrupted.
Also, there is severe lack of public awareness about genetic research and its revolutionary benefits. Two recent breakthroughs in genomic studies by Dr Bhabatosh Das and Dr Nisheeth Agarwal garnered international attention but there was hardly any awareness in India about their work.
Prof A Ramachandra Reddy, University of Hyderabad, says, "We still don't realise that we need to take the Biotechnology establishment to the level of somewhere near the Space establishment, if we are seriously in the game for world leadership and meaningful applications. Sporadic breakthroughs and islands of excellence in biotechnology in the form of a few highly-funded groups of scientists and institutions in the ocean of average or even below-average biotechnology groups, labs and institutions will not be enough to project India in the coming decades in the field of genomics and biotechnology. It is essential to move from the routine research, that mostly yields incremental knowledge added to the existing information, to original breakthroughs in research.
"Research in India is regulated and bureaucratically controlled with massive difficulties in getting funding. India needs to develop a new Genomics Research Framework 2025 to create and sustain highly competitive researchers across the nation if we don't want to be knocked out of the game."
There are various debates surrounding genetic studies. It is essential to bring them into the limelight and hold discussions at various public forums. With the current inventions, it is possible to rewrite genes modifying the functions and characteristics of living organisms, thus, raising the same dilemma that the community faced at the time of the development of atomic bombs.
The developments in genomics have made the tools that are needed for synthesising DNA cheap and easy to use. Any scientist with modest training can gain the expertise to use these tools with the potential to engineer viruses that can possibly drive mankind to extinction.
The Research and Development done by private companies is mostly done secretly with profit-making objectives ignoring the long-term impact on environment sustainability, thus, adversely impacting humankind. It is essential that the research is conducted in the most transparent way possible.
There is an eventual possibility of social discrimination by the insurance companies and also, overall discrimination in employment by the companies due to gene mapping. The companies would tend to employ and insure individuals who are healthier than the others. Thus, there have to be proper laws that would ensure protection against unjust practices; for example, the United States has passed the Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act, 2008.
As long as we can continue to fight disease, we will continue to push the abilities of human beings to survive longer and live healthier. Whether it will reach a stage that we are able to avert death and look younger much longer is something that may seem like fiction today, but then when did we ever think that we would be able to use somebody else's organs or even 3D print organs? As long as we can utilise genomics within a framework, the possibilities are immense. We can add a lot of value to human life. But with a bloody 21st century standing in front of us, how we use genomics is something that only time will tell.
