Looming French Election May Stall Needed Bioethics Laws

01/11/2002
Dow Jones International News

(Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- French politicians are preparing to debate new laws on embryonic research next week, but biotech followers fear the country's looming national elections may stall the onset of groundbreaking laws which the aspiring French biotech industry needs.

The French parliament is due to vote on a raft of measures affecting its biotechnology industry in the coming weeks - the most controversial of which concerns research on stem cells from human embryos, otherwise known as therapeutic cloning.

The debate comes at a precarious time for France. With French elections looming in a few months, most politicians are steering clear of subjects with a hint of controversy, including a heated international debate on adjusting French drug prices. The doesn't bode well for those French biotech followers who believe new, freer legislation is needed to give the up-and-coming industry the boost it needs to compete with its larger British and German rivals.

"The final vote will not happen before elections and will fall under the responsibility of a new government this fall," said Jean-Loup Salzmann, a French professor of genetic medicine and vice-president of industry lobbying firm France Biotech.

No French companies engage in therapeutic cloning, according to industry sources, though they may use stem cells taken from adults.

Contrast this with the U.K., which has already produced Dolly the Sheep and other cloned animals and where research on cell embryos less than 14-days old is legal, albeit under the oversight of an ethics committee.

If maintained, France's therapeutic cloning ban - except for invitro or fertility purposes, provided the embryo is not reimplanted - could stifle the growth of France's biotechnology industry, argues Salzmann.

"This is mainly impacting research, but will probably impact the industry soon," he told Dow Jones Newswires. "The law should allow this sort of research in certain conditions under the guidance of an ethics committee." Current legislation also prohibits the creation of human embryos for research purposes, and restricts the use of unused embryos from fertility clinics.

France Biotech finds the current ban "excessive", saying it could slow research on cardiovascular illnesses and diabetes, since therapeutic cloning research shows great promise in those areas. It is pushing to legalize therapeutic cloning with severe restrictions.

The lack of a French law on DNA patents also frustrates scientists who would like boundaries more clearly defined and their intellectually property protected, Salzmann added.

Every Delay Costs

Though the European Union has established guidance on DNA patenting, no French equivalent exists. The vote - which could overturn 1994 legislation setting out broad guidelines for the creation of, access to and medical research on human embryos - has been postponed at least once.

Last February, following a U.S. outcry against cloning research and with French elections only a year away, President Jacques Chirac objected to a revote on therapeutic cloning scheduled for that Spring. Parliament obliged.

But business leaders want their genetic findings protected and the freedom to engage in the latest research.

"The legislation needs to evolve, for the market and for the protection of genes," said Girard Pontonnier, an analyst at French bank Fideuram Wargny.

"Every delay costs. And we need regulation with some flexibility to protect DNA."

Other issues on the cards are new seed funds for small businesses and other financial vehicles to boost the fledgling but promising biotechnology industry. The industry welcomed these, with reservations, when the proposal was put forth last October.

"We are narrowing our lag with Germany, but I worry that the tools we are putting in place are three years behind," said Gilles Rabin, Chief Executive of business development group Essonne Development Partners. "If we want to get ahead we need to work on alliances."

With 240 biotechnology companies, a strong science base and two homegrown pharmaceuticals candidates for in-licensing deals in Aventis (AVE) and Sanofi-Synthelabo (F.SAN), France has great potential in the biotechnology world.

But as most companies are private with less than 10 people per firm - against 30 in the U.K. - and inadequate state funding to date, the obstacles are many.

Biotech followers believe the U.K. and France have an opportunity to carve out a niche in stem-cell research. This is partly because anti-cloning legislation is looming in the U.S. and there's a federal funding ban on stem cell research. There, conservative groups closely scrutinize cell therapy research.

Last year, President George W. Bush signed a bill banning all research on human embryos - later overturned by the Senate - prompting leading scientists like University of California researcher Roger Pedersen to move to the U.K. With more such defections likely, French biotech followers want the means to attract and keep such talent as easily as the U.K. industry.

-By Carolyn Whelan , Dow Jones Newswires; 331-4017-1740; carolyn . whelan @dowjones.com