India and China, in the near future, will emerge very strong in the medical sector, according to Gilson Khang of the Department of BIN Fusion Technology and Polymer Nano Science and Technology, Chonbuk National University, Korea.
The population of over a billion people, the range of diseases, and level of quality of life in India were huge positives for the sector, he said.
Mr. Khang, who delivered the Chandra P. Sharma Award Lecture on ‘Recent advances of the commercialisation for tissue engineered and regenerative products’ at the ongoing Sixth Asian Biomaterials Congress here, in a chat with The Hindu spoke about Korea’s focus on biotechnology, and stem cell technology, and its applications.
Mr. Khang is part of a panel that advises the Korean government. India, he said, could take a leaf from China’s book by pumping in research and development money on publication of scientific papers by academics. If India managed to attract its nationals settled in other countries by offering them better pay and other benefits, research and development would improve by leaps and bounds. “Maybe in a decade or so, many Indians will be back, and the biomedical industry here will prosper,” he said.
Tracing Korea’s development, he said 50 years ago it was a very poor country with little food and other amenities, but today it was one of the most developed in the world. This had occurred with industrialisation coupled with infrastructure building and science and technology development, he said.
Stem cell, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine were potential cash cows for Korea, he said. Knowing that it could not penetrate the multinational drug companies that controlled the sector, the country had decided to concentrate on the stem cell industry. However, relaxation in government regulations would help, he said.
In stem cell technology, Japan and the U.S. were ranked top in academics, but when it came to commercialisation Korea had taken the lead. The Korean government, he said, was pushing commercialisation of stem cell for treatment of diseases.