Harnessing the power of Pinoy biotech

EARLY exposure to the rural poor left an unseen yet deeply-felt mark in the character of Estrella Alabastro. Not surprisingly, therefore, from where she is now–steering the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) as its secretary for the last several years–the impact of those experiences are being felt in ways as varied and far-reaching as innovative science and technology (S&T) education interventions for elementary school children in Mindanao, more efficient and environmentally sustainable essential oils extraction processes for a soap-maker in Isabela, to cleaner production technologies for a food manufacturer in Cagayan de Oro.

Yet her concern is not limited to making science and technology work for the greatest possible number of  Filipinos, especially the disadvantaged. She is also driven to see more of these innovations and breakthroughs being made in our own backyard: world-class products of Filipino biochemists, biophysicists, seeds technologists and the like, benefiting Philippine agriculture, industry, environment, and public health, among many possible areas and applications.

Fast-tracking R&D; bridging lab-to-market gaps

Among the key developments that have helped provide the right environment as well as incentives for Filipino R&D is the DOST’s own intensified effort to fast-track the process of bringing research and development (R&D) findings and results to the market-ready or commercially-available stage.

Under its Technological Innovation Commercialization (TECHNICOM) Program, the DOST gives priority to boosting R&D work with a high potential for enterprise spin-off, especially high-technology applications with commercial value.

“TECHNICOM was developed as one of the two main programs of the DOST on technology transfer because we realized that the transfer of technology has been slow; the researchers needed some additional assistance beyond development at the laboratory level,” says Secretary Alabastro.

 “We’re looking at technologies that have been developed by various laboratories all over the country–both within the government system and the private sector–and we see if they need some assistance to carry it forward towards commercialization.

“Maybe  it’s a matter of getting protection for  the intellectual property; doing a feasibility study for it; or maybe looking for some private sector partners so that they can  work together towards the commercialization of the technology...We can act as the broker, and sponsor or try to get together corporate groups (that might be interested in the technology) with the technology generators themselves. We can even prepare a business plan for the company that adopts the technology. So it’s a sort of a bridging phase between development in the laboratory and the commercialization of the technology. Oftentimes in the past, many of the technologies never got commercialized because this gap was never attended to...Some private companies have already adopted these technologies.”

How could the DOST manage to invest in TECHNICOM among its many other thrusts, considering that the total spent, say, in 2003–barely three billion pesos–is pitifully below the standard budgetary allocation recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)?

“If you look at our budget, the DOST budget, you might say it’s small, what can that do in terms of supporting? But we have focused on just a few areas, and biotech is one of them,” says Ms. Alabastro. The department has further chosen to focus its biotech efforts and investments on two priority areas: agriculture (particularly the varietal improvement of agricultural crops) and health (with emphasis on the development of vaccines, pharmaceuticals and biomedical devices).               

“Even if it were personally up to me to set the tone for the priority areas for DOST support, it would still be primarily agriculture,  because we’re essentially an agricultural country as it is and we need to improve the lives of our farmers by making available varieties that will give them higher yields and therefore higher incomes,” she says, adding that one area she would like to see given priority in the coming years is environmental biotechnology applications, especially bioremediation, and related technologies that local industry could benefit from.

“We also have to push our initiatives in health,” she says, citing as a prime example the Antibody Biotechnology and Liposome Drug Delivery Technology for Experimental Therapeutics of Breast Cancer (or AMOR) Program, undertaken by  scientists at the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, the Marine Sciences Institute and the Natural Science Research Institute.

Under the AMOR Program, begun in 1998 with funds from DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), work is being done on various bio-techniques as a means of utilizing substances isolated from plants as well as marine sources as possible treatment for cancer, particularly breast cancer.

Explains the secretary: “Many Filipino women are afflicted with breast cancer, so they are starting with breast cancer. They have already identified it, they have isolated and found some substance isolated from a marine source, (and to date) they have not only extracted and found the substance to be effective but they have already elucidated on the structure of it. I understand that its chemical structure is simple enough so that it can be synthesized, so you don’t have to deplete the sea of this marine creature.”

Because of its deliberately high focus on identified priority areas, she says, the department can support the AMOR program; “we’ve poured in maybe P30 million into this program, it’s a huge program , and it’s slated to run for six years,” she says. A component of the AMOR Program focusing on the development of engineered, humanized antibodies for cancer therapy and diagnosis, will continue to receive DOST assistance through the PCHRD until project completion in 2006.

Biotechnology applications in medicine are being explored and developed not just in government institutions, she points out; “we have very good research groups in private hospitals,” she says. Among the projects by other academic institutions are those by the Research and Biotechnology Division of the St. Luke’s Medical Center on the optimization process for the large-scale production of dengue viral antigens; and the project completed by the University of Santo Tomas’ Research Center for the Natural Sciences, an evaluative study on Filipino hemophiliacs,  the results of which will contribute to  gene therapy development. 

According to Secretary Alabastro, it was in the middle of the 1990s that the department really started funding research, “though at that time it was really capacity building , making them comfortable with the technique, and the cosmeceutical applications had not yet been fully explored; (the work we supported) was mostly agricultural biotech . And before that we had the massive Engineering Science Education Program, funded by the World Bank through which we were able to send people abroad. So all of these efforts converged in the 1990s.”

“We started with capacity-building initially, before we were able to come out with our own locally developed biotech products. We also supported the biotech program on papaya at the time when nobody was supporting biotech R&D; we put in money because we thought this is an area that’s of strategic importance,” says Ms. Alabastro, and the resulting sunshine industry built around papaya-based cosmetics and specialty soaps bears out the wisdom of such choices. 

Local scientists’ R&D work on papaya remains a priority; agri-biotech applications in this area (with possible additional economic benefits for the local cosmeceutical export industry) are among the more advanced and promising.

“The one that is more advanced, something that we have developed, is our work on papaya that is resistant to the ring spot virus, and the testing of the variety. I think it should be ready within a couple of months. So our target for commercialization will be 2007. And that has been really developed locally,” she says, expressing hope that local investors will be the first ones to tap the technology, before foreign investors do.

 “There’s a lot of opportunity there for the seed companies to come in. Initially of course it will be the Institute of Plant Breeding that will put out the seeds for it once we have really the variety-that one variety-that we think is resistant. Then there’s the possibility of cross-breeding it with other local varieties so that we can have varieties, that are, say, rich in papain,” referring to the much-in-demand substance that is an important component of whitening soaps.

“There’s a large commercial application right now. We think that if you have a variety that is high in papain, and that is resistant to ring spot virus, it will bring lots of benefits for our farmers. Certainly there’s a market for it, even for export; we’re already exporting these soaps.”

According to Secretary Alabastro, even as the country’s biotechnology plan focuses on agriculture and health applications, the department also supports local R&D work on biotech applications for industry, “but not to the same extent as for these two general areas.” She adds that the department is also doing work for the food industry, “but I think they are not as well-developed as the products for health as well as for agriculture. Among all of these areas, the enzymes are moving faster than all the rest, but in terms of bioremediation, we are doing that for the solid waste program. There’s a bioreactor that has been developed by the International Technology Development Institute (ITDI), using thermophyllic micro-organisms to hasten the degradation of the organic materials in the waste.”

Brain drain or brain gain?

All this work is being made possible, she asserts, because of the Philippines’ human resource advantage.

“Our [ace] is that we have very good people. Other countries recognize that in the ASEAN, even in all of Asia, we have very good biologists, we have very good geneticists, and so we are very well-prepared to go into biotechnology. The fact that we already have the framework for the regulation of biotechnology products is also an advantage which the other countries–our neighbors  in ASEAN–still don’t have.”

While the information technology (IT) courses still enjoy high enrollment rates, the biosciences are now also becoming popular, she says, citing the example of the biotechnology programs in the UP, which post very stable enrollment rates. “And they get the top students into the program,” she notes.

“In terms of human resource development, I’m very optimistic...in fact the DOST in the 1990s made the deliberate decision to invest in biotech because we looked at the manpower potential in biotech, and we thought that we were very strong in the biosciences. So that was one of the determinants for saying, let’s invest in this, because the probability of success is high if you have a good manpower base.  And right in our own backyard,  the raw materials are available, we have the very rich biodiversity, and we hope that does not change...that’s why we need to protect our environment.”

She stresses the importance of providing opportunities for local researchers to collaborate with their peers in other countries, and of encouraging networking at the institutional level locally and internationally. “We’re putting a lot of emphasis on S&T collaboration, not only [at the] bilateral but also regional and multilateral [level], so that our R&D groups are not isolated, they can learn from other institutions, they do not have to reinvent the wheel in many instances,” she explains.

Ms. Alabastro remains optimistic amid the loss of good local scientists. “To me it’s not a total loss even if, say, a very good researcher goes abroad and continues his work in a research institution abroad. In many ways we benefit from that as well because of the linkages that are established,” she says, citing the example of the Philippine-American Association of Scientists and Engineers (PAASE). In June 2005 PAASE members came to Cebu for a conference on biotech.

“These are scientists and engineers who are based in the US, they come here; in a way we benefit from these people who have gone and have been able to absorb a lot of knowledge and skills because of their affiliation with the more advanced laboratories. And they bring these back to us. So I do not look at it as a complete loss, so long as they keep their ties with us, and make sure that benefits are brought here, as they share what it is they know.”

She also cites the notable example of internationally respected Filipino biophysicist Dr. Eduardo Padlan, who migrated to the United States years ago but remains actively involved with consulting work for Philippine R&D institutes. Despite his stature and responsibilities with the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, Dr. Padlan assisted in the AMOR project.

“We should talk more about people like that...even people who come here every now and then to share what they know. I’ve been telling our media corps people, can you write about Ed Padlan, and those Filipinos who are in the States or abroad...Even if they relocate abroad, they come and bring back what they know, so I don’t look at them as a complete loss. In fact I think that they are a resource that we should mine.”

She mentions Dr. Baldomero Olivera. “People have said that if there’s anyone from the Philippines who should get a Nobel Prize maybe it’s Dr. Olivera, and his work on Conus Conus  with Dr. Luly Cruz is known internationally, and he has this beautiful and huge laboratory in Utah which I’ve visited and I hope we can talk more about him, because every year he brings in faculty as well as graduate students from here to affiliate with  his lab. They can stay one year with him, he brings in a lot of grants for his laboratory. In fact he’s an adviser to the US government on research, and he uses this money to support graduate students who want to do some work in his lab, every year!”

Expanding RP biotech linkages and impact

Locally, the DOST  has also stepped up its efforts to expand and strengthen linkages with other agencies and sectors.

One such area is in the environment, because the Philippines’ internationally known megadiverse biological resources, an inestimable and irreplaceable base for biotech and other S&T applications or products — are also among those most threatened in the world.

“We have been doing a lot of biodiversity activities, just documenting resources.  We’ve poured  in a lot of resources not just on plant biodiversity projects, which PCARRD has been administering for years, but also on marine resources. We’ve poured in a lot of money into documenting our marine resources not just in the South China Sea side but also the Pacific seaboard...And it turns out that we have many varieties of seaweeds with a lot of commercial potential. There are in fact  two projects now being undertaken by the UP: one is looking at the phenomenon which shows some currents merging in the north and south side, converging in a certain area, creating very rich fishery resources in that area. We’re not just looking at the phenomenon; we’re also making sure that that area is protected.”

Another linkage with the DENR centers on clean technologies.

“We will be the developer, generator, adaptor of clean technologies which they can promote for industry. That is why in ITDI we have a group that is very much involved in the development of clean technologies. We have supported the clean technology development program, and we can continue to collaborate with the DENR in making sure that our environmental laws are complied with by making available to industry, for example, technologies that are environment friendly.”

“We’re really going to individual firms, auditing their systems, identifying operations that can be modified and made cleaner, even going into the reduction of use of resources or the recycling of some of these materials so that you don’t add to the waste. We’ve been doing this, not only at the regional, but also the firm-by-firm level, because we find that it’s difficult to be talking about generalities. You tell this firm, we’ve looked at your operations, and we think you can improve in this, this and this, otherwise if it is too general it’s not very useful to them. And receptivity has been high, it’s been very good, they’re so receptive because they know that it will cut  their cost of operations.”

“Also at the LGU level, we have the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP), that aims to help these small enterprises out there in the  regions to improve their productivity. Local government support has been the key to the success of many of our interventions. In fact they help us identify what are the firms; they know these people,  they can tell us, if you work with this group, we’re sure that they will be able to implement the recommendations. So we rely very heavily on them to help us choose which  firms should be given technological interventions, because there are those (firms) that are really motivated.”

She lauds the encouraging and growing support from the private sector as well, especially in terms of human resource development, crediting private foundations or corporate foundations with helping nurture young science and mathematics talents who have been putting the Philippines on the international S&T map in recent years, as well as with helping recognize outstanding S&T educators.

“We’re seeing more and more private sector support; despite the fact that we have a small budget, we’ve been able to leverage this to get more support from the private sector, we’ve been able to draw more funds from that direction, we just put up a small amount of our own money, and they give a counterpart support, a much higher amount.”

She stresses the need to further educate people on S&T in general, and biotechnology in particular, saying that public perception remains a major hindrance to more widespread applications of biotechnology.

“We also have to strengthen our capacity in risk assessment and management to show that we are not irresponsible in the use of this new technology, that we have done everything that needs to be done to reduce the level of risk to very low levels. And then we have to continue telling our people about the benefits they could derive from the use of this technology. We’re not ramming this down their throat, we’re just saying this is an alternative that’s available to you, these are the perceived advantages, once you use it it’s there.” 

“I think there are some objections from certain quarters-and I think it’s dying down, I think the tide is slowly turning because of education — because their concept initially of biotech is you’ll produce freaks and so on, and you’ll wreak havoc on the environment, which has not happened. It’s not just a matter of saying it hasn’t happened abroad; it hasn’t happened in the Philippines. We have been  producing Bt corn on a commercial basis and I have not heard anything that has been validated and documented about effects on the environment or on people or on animals.”

In the end, her main concern remains not the promotion of S&T per se, but its ultimate — preferably immediate — positive impact on people’s lives, whether in terms of food security, increased livelihood opportunities, better health, more productive businesses, or cleaner communities.

“Whatever you do is useless if it doesn’t reach them. Since I was a kid I’ve spent a portion of my  growing up years in the provinces so I know the situation. They’re very hardworking people but they just don’t have tools to improve their lot. So they will need some help from the outside to be able to do that,” she says.

“If you’re doing biotech research, are you benefiting people, because if not, why do it at all,” she says, reiterating her belief that behind biotech, behind all science and technology, for that matter, “it’s still people behind everything.”