The focus
for this week was on the revolution of healthcare and biomedical sciences and the issues imposed along the process. Prof
Shahi started off with the definition of Biobusiness – about life and
businesses.
On this
planet, the life form we are aware of uses the same architecture code. It is
amazing how same building blocks could move in different directions. The
various desire and needs of living things and diversity comes from responding
to them.
Main Takeaways:
- Biotechnology generates revenue at a proportion at a slow pace. Currently, biobusiness sectors such as Agriculture and Healthcare are still more valuable and take up a larger percentage of GDP either regionally or globally.
- The imbalance utilisation of healthcare services and facilities.
- Although there is a major improvement in the healthcare sector, people's health condition has no progress due to the hectic working culture. As the occurrence of chronic diseases reduces, the problems of communicable and nutritional conditions arise.
- Not everyone can have access to the advanced medical equipment and techniques. 5% of the world is consuming 50% of the availability of healthcare.
- BioInnovation is a driver of Biobusinesss value creation. The presence of patent rights help secure the originality of biotechnology, in the meantime, allows monopolization to happen. This results in the higher pricing of new medicines and equipment which only the rich can afford to enjoy the advantages from the state-of-the-art healthcare provisions.
My voice on patent rights:
- The acquisition of patent rights is a long process. It takes years before an application to be approved. Many may be disqualified along the process of applying. Apparently, this involves challenge against time. Unlike the large pharmaceutical companies, small enterprises could not afford such a long waiting duration without any active cash flow. Eventually, this will results in a monopolised stage.
- In fact, patent right creates a lopsided ownership and unequally distributed benefits.Large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly take patent right as an advantage. I recalled there was once a dispute between international pharmaceutical corporations and the Brazilian Indigenous people over the creation of medicine. After all, large companies extracted the Brazilian Indigenous people's contributions and knowledge to the world's medicine to manufacture drug products of their own and seek for patent approval. The companies are earning hulk amount of money while the indigence gain nothing.
Session Rating: 9/10. Interesting and familiar topic.
