Increasingly, widespread application of new enzymatic processes, made possible by application of large-scale gene-shuffling and biochip technologies, is transforming many chemical industries into biotechnology-based industries. These new technologies are far more environmentally friendly, and actually more efficient, than many traditional chemical-based processes.
Driven by such research and development mostly in the wealthy nations, new and exciting commercial applications across the globe are likely not only in medicine and agriculture but also in environmental protection and other critical areas. This is particularly true in S&T-lagging countries because the most attractive course for the developing nations, given their initial conditions (such as the general lack of extensive laboratory facilities), could lie in embracing 'post-genomics' research strategies in bioinformatics, comparative genomics, and assessment of gene-environment interactions. At a minimum, bioinformatics networks could help those with Internet connections to access genome data for 'in silico' experiments that could later be validated in laboratories elsewhere. In that way, developing-nation researchers might apply emerging genome information to applications tailored to local developmental needs.
But while the research and development will progress rapidly, commercial follow-up may be slowed by safety concerns, such as those affecting the international transport of food products based on genetically modified organisms. The positive visions are also tempered by ethical issues of patenting human genes and the confidentiality of data on individuals' genetic characteristics.
Inequities in the access to medical treatment for poorer populations present another barrier to widespread adoption; at present, there often is little or nothing to adopt in the first place. Although the worldwide research investment in health is US$30 billion, only 5 percent of it has been devoted to the health problems of the developing nations, which account for 93 percent of the world's preventable mortality (measured in years of potential life lost). Of the 1,393 new drugs developed between 1975 and 1999, only 13 of them addressed tropical diseases of interest to the developing nations.19
Many of these omissions could be corrected with the advent of a favorable intellectual property regime, which the international private sector depends on to recoup its investments in research and development. But the negative aspects of the current drive to patent almost everything deserves careful scrutiny. It is leading to a privatization of knowledge that creates obstacles to developing nations' access to the tools of research - even to their consumption of the fruits of research conducted elsewhere - and can also confound international cooperative-research programs if patent-holder's lawyers and governments choose to use the rules to obstruct the new applications.
It is increasingly clear that the current system of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is not necessarily beneficial to the developing nations, and that some judicious changes within TRIPS are in order to protect their interests while respecting the interests of the innovators.20
Nowhere in the domain of science and technology have these obstacles been more evident than in the patenting of drugs, particularly in the opposition of patent holders to the production of inexpensive generics, which would be of great value to the developing nations. But these patent holders - mostly the big pharmaceutical companies - have little incentive because their sales in the developing nations are a very small fraction of their total sales. This is partly because the markets themselves are small (in terms of purchasing power relative to distribution costs) and partly because markets remain inaccessible in many of these countries; the local rules are unclear, making it difficult for exporters to penetrate. Accordingly, it may be appropriate to suggest a more imaginative approach.
It is in the interest of the private sector in the industrialized nations to build up the local private sector in the developing nations, even though this may seem at first to be fortifying its own future competition. A vibrant and powerful local private sector could help create a flourishing local market, which would more than compensate the multinationals for any initial reduction in market share.
The private sector in S&T-advanced countries can segment its market to help in the development of S&T capacity building in the developing nations. These actions would not only be good for companies' images; they would also be commercially rewarding in that they would expedite a developing nation's own research and development efforts, permit the development of locally made product variations, and safeguard the market by keeping local prices of products from rising beyond the reach of most of the country's population. For example, companies in the S&T-proficient developing nations could enter into partnerships with the multinational private sector to develop inexpensive generic drugs and make them available domestically to the poorer and S&T-lagging countries, while promising not to export such generics to the richer countries, where the patented brand-name medicines would be marketed by the multinationals. The poorest S&T-lagging countries would benefit from the low-cost generics imported from the more proficient developing nations, and would be offered an extension of the grace period under TRIPS to 2016 (as recommended by the recent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights).21
Enormous amounts of data are becoming available through the internet, but its usability by the scientists in developing nations is blocked by copyrights and high subscription costs in foreign currencies. Indeed, the copyright regime is itself being stretched by the enormous expansion of available data online. New systems of online management need to be devised. It is important that these new systems recognize the needs of developing nations for special access to this data in order to build up their S&T capacities are not impeded. It is for this reason that the role of digital libraries should be stressed. Accelerated, automatic-licensing agreements should also be in place to permit local efforts in research and development that use patent-protected processes and intermediate inputs in research endeavors.
