/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\
Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com.
http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015
\----------------------------------------------------------/
How India's Mother of Invention Built an Industry
August 16, 2003
By AMY WALDMAN
BANGALORE, India - Like father, like daughter, Kiran
Mazumdar-Shaw thought in the 1970's, when she set out to
become a brew master just as her father had been. She left
India to train in Australia, then returned home to find
that daughters were not welcome in India's breweries.
That door closing for her opened another one for India.
Unemployed, she followed a love of biology and a chance
referral to an Irish biotechnology company. At 25, she
started their Indian operation from her garage,
successfully extracting from papaya an enzyme used to
tenderize meat, among other things, and from the swim
bladders of tropical fish a collagen that helps clear beer.
It was the beginning of India's biotechnology industry.
Twenty-five years later, Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw, 50, has become
a symbol of sorts for that industry. Her now independent
company, Biocon India Ltd., of which she is chairwoman and
managing director, employs almost 900 people, making it
among India's largest biotechnology companies.
From this capital of the southern state of Karnataka, which
is now home to 85 biotechnology companies, Ms.
Mazumdar-Shaw is among those trying to shape a nation's
approach to uncharted scientific and commercial terrain. It
is both promising and risky.
Across India, states are racing to set up biotech parks,
hoping to mimic the success of the information technology
industry that defined India as a global knowledge
powerhouse.
But biotechnology touches human lives in a way that
information technology does not, and that is at the heart
of the debate over its benefits and risks for developing
countries.
That debate heated up with President Bush's charge that
Europe's resistance to genetically modified foods has made
African countries reluctant to accept bio-engineered foods
despite widespread hunger there. Similar concerns have
arisen in India, which rejected a donation of a soy-corn
blend this year because the United States could not certify
that it had not been genetically modified.
The worry in the developing world, said Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw,
who does not share the concern, is this: "Why has Europe
banned it? It must be for a reason. Why are we being fools
and embracing it?"
She passionately believes that India must embrace
biotechnology, with the proper precautions. She believes it
can change the way this country of more than one billion
people, at least one-fourth of them deep in poverty, eats
and farms, researches and cures disease.
"Today anything can be done - we have the techniques," she
said.
Biotechnologists are working to develop high-protein
potatoes and high-nutrient rice that could help address the
country's malnutrition problem. They have developed a
vaccine for leprosy, which was not being researched in the
West, and are working on biofuels from local crops like
sugar cane.
But such ventures, if done badly, could also cause damage,
sending new genetic strains into the country's basmati rice
crop, for example, threatening a staple food. It is a new
frontier characterized by excitement, but also uncertainty.
Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw seems well-suited to both. She is
possessed of what she calls a "spirit of adventure," along
with a deep determination to succeed. Her family was
unconventional, not least in her father's choice of
profession as a master brewer. They were Brahmins
originally from the state of Gujarat, which even today
prohibits alcohol.
"My parents were today's people," she said.
Unable to get
into medical college, she focused on zoology and other
biosciences at Bangalore University, and she became
fascinated by fermentation science. She earned a
scholarship to Australia, only to meet disappointment at
home in her quest to become India's first female master
brewer.
But the setback was only temporary. Today she has
capitalized well on the abundance and affordability of
Indian biologists and chemists, building a loyal team. She
is simultaneously warm and controlled, a gracefully
aggressive entrepreneur who favors scarves and pearls.
Her company resembles a large family - her husband, John
Shaw, an exuberant Scotsman, is on the management team. She
eats lunch in the cafeteria with everyone else, and has
decorated the company's walls with her personal art
collection.
Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw has taken a lead in trying to shape
policy and perception toward biotechnology. Over a recent
breakfast, she explained to the former American ambassador,
Robert D. Blackwill, why Western companies' fear that their
intellectual property would not be protected in India was
misplaced, and asked him to spread the word.
She has few illusions that the industry is anything but
nascent - it will take another 10 to 15 years before there
is a thriving biotech industry in India, she predicts.
"I've taken 25 years to get to where I am," she said.
From extracting enzymes, she moved into fermenting them,
developing and patenting a novel technology to do so.
Biocon extracted and manufactured enzymes used in
everything from Lipton Ice Tea to tomato purée.
Now Biocon has moved onto even more complex challenges. By
year's end, it will begin using an innovative technology to
manufacture recombinant human insulin. The product will pit
Biocon against multinationals like Eli Lilly, which have
already started lowering their prices, apparently in
anticipation. It is only one piece of Biocon's focus on
diabetes, which also includes efforts to produce oral
insulin and clinical trials on diabetics.
Such clinical trials, she believes, are another potential
gold mine for India. The country has one of the world's
largest populations of "naïve" patients on whom no medicine
has ever been tried, making them ideal for study. In
addition, it has a large population of intermarried
relatives, allowing for the study of genetic defects, as
well as innumerable ethnic and tribal communities whose
genomics can be studied.
"The kind of patient populations, the diversity of patient
populations - we could have so much data exclusivity to
lease out to the rest of the world," Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw
said.
Not surprisingly, such notions have many opponents, who
argue they amount to exploitation of India's people and
resources, and could threaten the very biodiversity they
seek to capitalize on.
Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw recognizes the concerns, and believes
companies must demonstrate their intentions. But, she asks:
"What's wrong with Indian guinea pigs? There have been
American and European guinea pigs. It's a very important
cause: alleviating diseases."
She is eager to win over the critics. "You can't do every
experiment to show genetically modified products are safe,"
she said, "but are you going to abandon it because of the
fear it could be bad?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/16/international/asia/16FPRO.html?ex=1062235991&ei=1&en=c69c71a78cda2cf8
---------------------------------
Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html
HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters
or other creative advertising opportunities with The
New York Times on the Web, please contact
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo
For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
