Life Science scientists receive national awards

On 25 January 2004, when the President of India announced the Padma awards, the country’s scientific community reveled with joy. Acknowledging the importance and impact of biotechnology, four leading scientists of this field were honored for their contribution to life sciences. Leading molecular biologist, Prof. G Padmanabhan, honorary professor in IISc and emeritus scientist was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan. Prof. M Vijayan, associate director, IISc, Bangalore, Dr Lalji Singh, director CCMB, Hyderabad, and Dr V Prakash, director CFTRI, Mysore, have been given the Padma Shri awards. Though these scientific luminaries are no strangers to awards and honors both within the country and abroad, what makes the Padma award special is the fact that it is a national civilian award given by the government unlike the others given by exclusive scientific bodies or organizations. Moreover it gives the feeling that the country is taking note of their contributions and enthuses them to take their work further.

Congratulating them on this notable achievement, BioSpectrum spoke to Prof. G Padmanabhan, Prof. M Vijayan and Dr. V Prakash, who graciously shared their views, vision and future plans for the country, how to groom it as a biotech hotspot and the hurdles in the way.

"India should take leadership in vaccines"

An icon in the field of malarial research, Prof G Padmanabhan passionately pursues remedies for this poor man’s disease. In a chat with BioSpectrum he shared the optimism India can play a leading role in global vaccine manufacture and sees a growing future for traditional medicine preparations. Some excerpts:

You have been a recipient of a host of prestigious awards including the Padma Shri and now the Padma Bhushan. What is next?

One does not look for these things actually. I think you just do your work. If they (awards) come along it is ok, otherwise it should not bother you at all. If you win the award, yes, you feel happy. But I don’t think we work for awards.

I enjoy my work and that is my motivation. I do not think that people should do something that they do not enjoy. The other great thing in this institute is that I am always surrounded by students that are nearly 30-35 years younger than me, which keeps me very alert and young mentally. And yes, research is exciting. Even failure brings excitement as it helps me to plan the next experiment.

What have been the latest breakthroughs in new drug research for malaria disease?

Now there is a great deal of awareness about the disease and a lot of workers from different backgrounds/fields are using the parasite as a model. The DNA sequence of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of the parasite, is available. This has given an insight into the parasite’s basic biology, which is very interesting, full of surprises and this will hopefully also lead to new drug molecules. In fact, many labs have now come up with new drug targets. These are essential and are obtained by studying in detail the modern parasite biology. New drug structures or as we call it new pharmacophores are obtained if a new reaction in the parasite or a new step in the parasite survival biology is defined which is caused by an enzyme and if that enzyme is hit, the parasite dies. This rational drug design approach was lacking before.

The drug development process is a long one...

Yes, it is a very long process and many of the molecules fall off on the way. Even if I am excited that I have a new drug target/molecule there is no guarantee that it will develop into a new drug. Preclinical toxicity tests then phase I, II, III trials are required and then the drug has to be economically viable also.

A lot of problem arises in taking a drug from the lab to the people. Today we are competent to express any protein in most of the labs in India. But there are many issues, as what works in animals may not work in humans and on top of it there are animal activists and sanction from so many regulatory committees, which make the process a very lengthy one.

Is there a lack of funds for this area of research?

Funding has all along been a major problem. But now malaria along with HIV and TB diseases are being focused upon. The Gates foundation is supporting malarial research. Of course, in India there has been reasonable support by the Department of Biotechnology, The ICMR, the CSIR have supported drug development for malaria. But at the international level the support has been much less. In fact the amount for vaccine initiative for malaria is 1/10 the amount for vaccine initiative for HIV. I sometimes feel that the disease is our problem. You cannot expect the developed countries to solve it for us. And among the developing countries, India is the most equipped to handle it. India can look towards international help but our research should not be dependent on them.

What are the major limitations hindering progress in this field?

Both the parasite and the vector, the mosquito in this case, are intrinsically tough and difficult to handle. Their survival mechanisms are fantastic and can live in all kinds of environment. Then there are funding issues. Research requires a lot of money.

Also there is no point in developing a molecule, which is very expensive. It has to be a cheap drug as more than one million children die in Africa every year due to malaria. In India also it is a major problem. There are about 2 million cases in India leading to tremendous loss of man-hours. So we have to develop a drug, which is cheap, has no side effects, is least toxic to the host and will also survive resistance for at least a few years.

What is your vision for the BioPharma segment in India?

India should take the leadership in vaccines. I am a great votary of that. This is where, I feel, we has experience. India is manufacturing the hepatitis B vaccine and now the recombinant Hep B vaccine. And look what it has done! The price of vaccine has fallen by 10 fold. I remember three years ago the price of a vial was Rs 475 and now it is being sold at Rs 40 or something. This shows that India can make modern vaccines much cheaper, which is important considering the fact that big multinational companies are not interested in making them.

The global vaccine future is dim where as these are the main tools to protect people in developing countries. In India on one hand many vaccine units have been modernized, the companies have invested a lot of money and are getting WHO certification, FDA approvals for their manufacturing facilities. And on the other hand being a member of the Indo US vaccine action program I find that many of the international agencies are very keen to transfer the vaccine technology to the Indian companies. We have the infrastructure to make vaccines affordable and perhaps even give it back to a developed country.

I would think that more than drugs our future lies in biopharmaceuticals, in discovery of new biopharma-ceuticals. Till now though we have not done anything dramatic like coming up with a new molecule but there are some generative molecules in the pipeline like a TB vaccine and a DNA vaccine for rabies.

Compared to the world where does India stand in the field of BioPharma?

In BioPharma, I would say that we have just crossed the lag phase and are at the start of the log phase. We have a long way to go but al least the path is exponential now. There were basic things that were not working in India but at least now they are all working now.

But now we need lots of private investment. All the development as I look back in the past twenty years has been through government support. There has been hardly any private initiative. Private investments have started only in the last 3-4 years. The private associations like CII should catalyze investments, at least in specific sectors they can appoint an expert group and conduct studies, find out areas that are worth supporting and then channelize private investment.

What do you feel about the current generation biotech entrepreneurs and researchers?

I feel happy. I feel that whatever is happening is because of the change in attitude. I find many PhDs becoming entrepreneurs. It makes our job easier. They were like us yesterday, now they have quit their job and started a company. Their knowledge base is like us or even better and it is very easy to communicate with them. Earlier, I am talking about 15- 20 years back, we developed some small things and then we have to run behind the industry. But today’s entrepreneurs care a lot for science and invest in it. The government and several foundations are also supporting them. In fact today there are several programs where if the academia and the industry come together and develop a product they are supported by the government. So today’s entrepreneurship is very encouraging.

These days there is a general feeling that Indian science is going down but in modern biology and biotechnology first class research is going on. Researchers are publishing papers in high impact international journals. This fact is not well advertised and gets submerged in our many other worries. Thanks to government support especially the DBT that has promoted research by establishing centers, infrastructure and national facilities all over India. This is showing up today. Excellent science is going on. But still does it lead to a product? That is a question.

What is your message to the policy makers?

The climate for R&D is very good. The policy makers need to be genuine at heart that they want India to be indigenous. Let them not pay only lip service. This is the only way that our poor people can have access to vaccines and diagnostics.

Which are the technologies that you envision will shape India into a global hot spot?

In the medical field we will definitely have newer vaccines and indigenous diagnostic kits coming from India. I also see a growing future for traditional medicine. There are lots of efforts going on regularly supported by the government for validating and standardizing some of the traditional medicine preparations. That will really put India in a leading position. But validation should be accompanied with publication in excellent scientific journals. This is the only way to convince the world community that here is a product which works. This is happening today. Now people with my kind of training and the ayurvedic physicians are sitting together and trying to understand each other’s language. We have taken up specific preparations like for arthritis, for diabetes and psoriasis. This is one of the key areas to develop in India.

Rolly Dureha

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