Chapter 5 - Commerce vs the Common Conflicts over the Commercialisation of Biomedical Knowledge

Summary

INTRODUCTION: GOVERNING A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF HOPE

In many countries, including many Asian countries, the bioeconomy is seen as a crucial economic driver. Singapore, along with countries such as China, Korea and India, is investing heavily in research and development in this area. Indeed since the mid-1980s, Singapore has embraced the ambition of becoming ‘Asia's biotech tiger’: the Asian focus for the development of the biotechnology industry, with a specific focus on biomedical biotechnology (Ong 2005, p. 341). Singapore has invested heavily in developing in a life science research infrastructure, attracting leading researchers in the life sciences from across the world, setting up education and training programmes to build an indigenous research community, and developing a bioethical governance framework for research and development in the life sciences. By 2003, when Phase 1 of its ‘Biopolis’ was launched, the biomedical science industry was already contributing S$9.7 billion in manufacturing output and S$6.5 billion in value added, and employing more than 7,000 workers. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, launching what was termed ‘the Biopolis of Asia’, Biopolis was “the cornerstone of a much broader vision to build up the Biomedical Sciences Industry in Singapore … to establish the entire value chain of Biomedical Sciences activities in Singapore — from research and development to manufacturing and health care delivery … [and] to bridge the private sector and public sector research work by creating … close interface between researchers from industry and scientists from research institutes [that] will accelerate the translation of new discoveries to marketable products”.

Singapore is not alone. Across Asia and beyond, governments are pushing for breakthroughs in biomedical research for many reasons, including economic development and competitiveness, scientific prestige, and a patriotic desire to place the nation at the forefront of these crucial developments for human understanding and human health. In this growing and competitive international bioeconomy, the link between health promotion, wealth creation and economic competitiveness underpins the attraction for governments, for venture capitalists, for private foundations, for universities, for researchers, for public funders and for private pressure groups and patient organizations.