Biotechnology news from around the world.
- Bayer profit fall
- Fabrys drug battle ahead
- New Zealand GM inquiry
- South African cabinet minister's AIDS remedy
- US house votes to ban human cloning
Bayer profit fall
10 August 2001 – Bayer AG has seen a 41 per cent fall in its second-quarter operating profit, the Australian Financial Review has reported. Operating income, excluding one-time items, fell to €555 million, down €383 million from the same period last year. Sales from continuing operations was €7.96 billion, up 5.6 per cent.
[Source: The Australian Financial Review]
Fabrys drug battle ahead
4 August 2001 – Biotech companies Genzyme General and Transkaryotic Therapies have both won regulatory approval to sell drugs to treat Fabrys diseases in Europe. Competition should be fierce, with a market of only a few thousand patients, but analysts believe the global market to be worth as much as $800 million by 2005. Fabrys causes a build-up of red blood cells in major organs, and can lead to death by the age of 40. Neither company has yet received approval in the US.
[Source: Reuters]
New Zealand GM inquiry
31 July 2001 – A New Zealand Royal Commission report into genetic modification, released on 30 July, has suggested taking the middle ground between total prohibition of genetically modified organisms and no regulation at all. The commission favoured 'a strategy of preserving opportunities and proceeding selectively with appropriate care', the Australian Financial Review reported. The report said that applications to introduce a genetically modified crop should be taken by the Minister of the Environment. It also suggested establishing two new biotechnology watchdogs, a Bioethics Council and an independent Parliamentary Commissioner on Biotechnology to oversee the biotechnology industry. The Royal Commission report has been criticised by the Green Party who said that the recommendations ensure a faster path to the field release of genetically engineered crops than already exists.
[Source: The Australian Financial Review – Kim Griggs]
South African cabinet minister's AIDS remedy
30 July 2001 – South African government Public Works Minister, Stella Sigcau, is manufacturing and distributing an AIDS remedy based on boiled peach leaves which she hopes to patent, The Age has reported. AIDS activists, who have been critical of the South African Government's approach to HIV/AIDS for some time, were dismayed by the news. President Thabo Mbeki has previously questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, and suggested that poverty, and not a virus, is the cause of the disease. The government has also been criticised for failing to provide anti-retroviral drugs to the poor despite its victory over the pharmaceutical industry over drug prices earlier this year.
[Source: The Age – Ed O'Loughlin]
US house votes to ban human cloning
1 August 2001 – The US House of Representatives yesterday voted by a convincing majority to ban human cloning, not only for reproduction but also for medical research, The New York Times reported. The House had previously rejected a less restrictive measure that would have allowed therapeutic cloning to take place. President Bush praised the outcome, saying that 'today's overwhelming and bipartisan House action to prohibit human cloning is a strong ethical statement, which I commend'. Therapeutic cloning is legal in Britain, but has been banned in Australia. The bill, which makes cloning a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, faces uncertain prospects in the Senate.
[Source: The New York Times – Sheryl Gay Stolberg]
