Doubled Spending on Biotech Urged : Research: Nobel laureate James D. Watson, a legend in gene science, tells executives that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge in the field to Japan.
James D. Watson, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA, had some age-old advice Monday for leaders of the biotechnology industry: lobby.
Saying the United States must continue to support basic genetic research if it is to maintain a worldwide competitive position, Watson called for a doubling of the National Institutes of Health budget for biotechnological research by the end of the decade.
“The science which has suddenly appeared over the last 10 years is spectacular,” Watson said, adding, “Looking at the next 20 years, it seems highly unlikely that we wouldn’t see some major advances.”
But much work remains, he said, before researchers can translate their exploding knowledge of the workings of DNA into treatments for cancer, AIDS, inherited diseases or diabetes.
“The health of the biotechnology industry will depend on stable and ever-growing money to support research in the fundamental biology, which will have applications for products,” Watson said.
“The collapse of communism will allow the country to re-examine its priorities . . . ,” he said. “If we’re starting over, what should the budget be for biological sciences? This is not to say we should have an unlimited budget, but these are questions that the country will only at great peril not ask itself.”
Patron saint to the $4-billion-a-year biotechnology industry his discovery helped spawn, Watson is the director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y., which conducts cancer research and also functions as a postgraduate university on DNA science.
He also runs the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health. The $8.3-million genome project aims to identify and analyze each of the estimated 100,000 pieces in the human genetic code by the year 2005.
Watson was the keynote speaker Monday at a private conference for chief executive officers of biotechnology firms. About 120 CEOs from across the country attended the fourth annual Biotechnology Meeting, sponsored by the Ernst & Young accounting firm.
While the United States remains the world leader in biotechnology, other nations are gaining, especially Japan, which has made development of biotechnology as well as computing and advanced ceramics a national goal.
“I don’t think we should take it for granted that we are going to win,” Watson told the executives.
The U.S. government spent $3.8 billion on biotechnology research in 1991, and the proposed budget for 1992 is $4.1 billion, an 8% increase, according to a new Ernst & Young report on the industry.
“Certainly there is no national policy in the United States,” Watson said in an interview. “America goes under the theory that you survive best if you don’t have plans.”
The NIH budget is under tremendous pressure as Congress juggles other urgent needs, he said. Furthermore, the scientific community has been tarnished by research billing scandals at major universities, recent cases of scientific misconduct and the general perception that research scientists are “just another interest group.”
“NIH used to be loved by Congress. This year, it’s not,” he said. “The Senate still likes it. The House is suspicious. . . . The biotech industry should be aware that (it is) going to have to play a role.”
At 63, Watson looks the archetypal scientist. His white hair is tousled, he lurches along on a reedy frame now burdened with a pot belly, and his blue eyes often look distracted.
But 40 years after he and Francis H.C. Crick theorized that DNA was shaped like a double helix, Watson clearly remains determined to see his discovery bear further fruit.
Several years ago, he said, the wife of a close friend, suffering from a rare disease, was treated with G-CSF, a drug developed by the pioneering Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc. and now marketed under the name Neupogen.
“She’s alive and not dead,” Watson said. “So I’ve seen it personally--a ‘wonder drug’ save the life of a friend.”’
Now he is excited by the work of a UC Berkeley researcher who has identified a gene associated with inherited breast cancer. He expects to see many more AIDS drugs like AZT, only better. And he thinks that AIDS research, which has contributed to a growing understanding of the human immune system, may also lead to better ways to control diseases like juvenile diabetes.
Ethics are an enduring concern. Watson has earmarked 4% of the total budget for the human genome project to exploration of the philosophical, medical and ethical dilemmas posed by genetic research and expects to see that fraction increase to 10%. “We want to see that the knowledge is not misused,” he said.
He also stresses the need for better science instruction and more public education about genetics, which will become vital as screening for genetic diseases becomes more common.
“If people don’t understand what a gene is, or fundamentals like Mendel’s laws, it will be hard for them to know what choices to make,” Watson said. “We’re spending money now to prepare for that.”
