Biotechnology and the life sciences have become an important part of S'pore's economy. By pumping in millions of dollars into research, the government is hoping that we will be able to develop practical applications which will eventually translate into big bucks. But beyond the economic benefits, biotechnology holds great promise for healthcare. Think new drugs to tackle illnesses, individualised treatment based on genetic profiling, new vaccines, and nutritional medicine to promote health and well-being.
As always, the problem is availability. Only the rich can afford all these new drugs and treatments. These new technologies are largely unavailable to the poor, and are something that the middle-class will struggle to afford. This issue of availablity lies at the heart of what I presented on, namely the battle between big pharma and developing nations over patent rights. On the one hand, it's necessary to protect patent rights to enable big pharma to recoup their R&D costs and continue to innovate, but on the other hand, we have a health crisis on our hands and the available drugs are simply too expensive. While the severity of the situation can be mitigated through compromise, this problem will never disappear entirely.
Also, I think that not enough resources are being channelled into prevention. And given the profitability of pharmaceutical companies and their importance to the economy, it seems as if there's little incentive to do so. Where infectious diseases are concerned, investing in sanitation is the way to go. As for lifestyle diseases like cancer, diabetes and stroke, public education is the key
