Public-Private Cooperation for the Future of Genomics

1
Public-Private Cooperation for the Future of
Genomics

• Cindy Fung Miranda Ip
• Stanford-in-Washington
• "How Health Science Policy Decisions Are Made
  with Bob Cook-Deegan
• 6 December 2000

2
Strengths Weaknesses

• Celera Genomics, Inc.
• mapped rough draft human genome using whole
  genome shotgun approach in 3 years for 200
  million
• used sequence from public database
• Spun-off from publicly funded government effort

• U.S. Human Genome Project
• mapped rough draft of human genome using
  hierarchical shotgun approach in 5 years for
  greater amount of money
• was motivated to finish in 1/3 of the time
  anticipated because of competition from the
  private sector

3
Strengths Weaknesses (contd)

• Celera Genomics, Inc.
• driven primarily by consumer demand and profit
• part of huge increase in recent years of genetics
  biotechnology companies

• U.S. HGP
• motivated by interest in basic research,
  biomedical research, interest in understanding
  disease
• initiated by DOE NIH interest in late
  80s/early 90s activity

FOR MORE INFO . . .
See http//www.celera.com The Gene Wars, by
Robert Cook-Deegan
4
Clash issue of public access

• U.S. Human Genome Project
• want everything in sequence databases to be
  publicly available
• public goods argument need free access for
  faster progress in research, thus need all
  information in database, including annotations
  and bioinformatics tools, to be free
• The value of databases such as GenBank lie
  primarily in their roles as an honest broker of
  information for the community at large, and any
  private owner of a database would do well to have
  earned a strong reputation in that respect, too.
  Nature, March 23, 2000.

FOR MORE INFO . . .
See the Human Genome Project at http//www.ornl.go
v/hgmis/
5
Clash issue of public access

• Celera Genomics, Inc.
• freely accessible database, subscription for
  computing tools to analyze search database
  work on annotations
• part of business model have invested a lot of
  money in these technologies
• Annotation of the data by Celera scientists
  using an array of bioinformatics tools will act
  as the platform for developing a range of
  products and services. We will offer these tools
  in a manner similar to the models used by other
  information companies such as Lexis-Nexis,
  Bloomberg and AOL. Craig Venter, April 6, 2000

FOR MORE INFO . . .
See testimony before Subcommittee on Energy and
Environment, U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, April 6, 2000 http//www.ost
p.gov/html/00626_4.html
6
Current situation

• Personality differences in leaders of each
  project
• Each one is bound by personal commitment to their
  respective projects

Political momentum the June 26 announcement, and
competition and animosity has been magnified by
the media by public interest in genetics
FOR MORE INFO...
Industry Weeks Technology Leaders of the
Year See http//www.industryweek.com
7
Current Situation (contd)

• Collins on Venter I would say his strength is
  that he is willing to take risks on a large scale
  that many others would shy away from. Industry
  Week

• Venter on Collins I would describe his job as
  herding cats. Trying to get all these labs to
  work togethertakes a real skill set. Industry
  Week

8
Resolution of immediate issue

• Predictions
• Celera will publish in Science
• editorial views in Science have promoted the
  private sector and encouraged future science
  policy to include privately funded research as an
  integral part of future science
• HGP will publish in Nature
• Nature has supported international view on public
  access, and the HGP shares this view
• because the HGP is in competition to publish
  simultaneously, will try to publish elsewhere
  while remaining firm on their policy on access

9
Resolution of immediate issue

• After publication, joint effort for clean up of
  sequences, but no collaboration similar to the
  Drosophila effort to cooperate on annotation of
  the sequence
• eventually, scientists in publicly funded efforts
  will want access to Celeras information

10
Future cooperation competition

• Finishing the human DNA sequence
• separate public and private efforts will continue
• Sequencing technology
• currently being developed by both private and
  public sector HGP should continue as long as
  working on the human genome

FOR MORE INFO . . .
See New Goals for the U.S. Human Genome Project
1998-2003Science, 282682-689.
11
Future collaboration/competition

• Human genome sequencing variation
• SNPs Consortium incentive for both private
  public to work on this
• technology for functional genomics
• both HGP and private industry will benefit by
  investing effort into this separately and through
  collaboration

12
Future collaboration/competition

• Comparitive genomics
• sequencing by Celera or other sequencing/database
  companies research on material done by all
  groups
• Ethical, Legal, Social Implications
• HGP has public interest in this
• Bioinformatics and computational biology
• Celeras will develop better bioinformatics
  tools
• training of scientists

13
Conclusions

• In the next decade or so, society will gain
  enormous benefits from increased knowledge about
  the human genome
• The private industries is here to staytremendous
  capital
• The HGP set a new standard for government
  projects of such magnitudenew paradigm for how
  to do big science
• While there are areas of overlap between public
  and private efforts, this only means that we have
  accelerated the pace of discovery in science

14
Conclusions (contd)

• New areas to really explore
• issues of property rights and sharing information
  in the research community
• good science will pay and bad science will lose
  out--poor quality work cannot have a monopoly
  because scientists will refuse to use it

15
Future battles in

• The courts will examine issues of gene
  patenting, intellectual property rights

16
Thanks to...

• Bob Cook-Deegan
• Celera Genomics, Inc.
• Nature
• Science
• National Human Genome Research Institute