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The emergence of Egyptian biotechnology from generics

Nature Biotechnology volume 22, pages DC25–DC30 (2004)Cite this article

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Egypt's government and society changed substantially following the 1952 military coup that ended the British-backed monarchy. A few years later, President Gamal Abdel Nasser's controversial state-led industrialization sought to step up social, economic and industrial development under the principles of 'Arab socialism'. This included expansion of the education system, the establishment of research institutes and the creation of a ministry of science. It was not until this period that Egypt's scientific research and the deliberate pursuit of science and technology began to take shape1. It has not been an easy road.

During the past half-century, Egypt has had to deal with several geopolitical conflicts and struggles with economic problems. Egyptian scientific and technology continues to be plagued by inappropriate policies1. Nevertheless, Egypt has become one of the leading Arab states in terms of science. It has both a predominantly well-educated people and scientific capabilities that have brought success in such fields as agbiotechnology. The country is making progress in developing its health biotechnology sector.

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Figure 1: Egyptian publications and USPTO patents in health biotechnology (1991–2002).

Illustration by R. Henretta

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Acknowledgements

Publication of this supplement was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle, WA), Genome Canada (Ottawa, Canada), McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine (Toronto, Canada) and the Rockefeller Foundation (New York, NY). Special thanks to Archana Bhatt, Zoe Costa-von Aesch and James Renihan for patent analysis, Éric Archambault, Frédéric Bertrand and Grégoire Côté at Science-Metrix (Montréal, Canada) for analysis of publication data and to the 25 Egyptian experts who gave their time and consideration to this study. The Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health is primarily supported by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute and by the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund. Funding partners are listed at http://www.geneticsethics.net. P.A.S. is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Distinguished Investigator award. A.S.D. is supported by the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, University of Toronto.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Assistant Professor, Department of Management, American University in Cairo, 113 Kasr El Aini Street, P.O. Box 2511, Cairo, 11511, Egypt

    Basma Abdelgafar

  2. Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and Department of Public Health Sciences, Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, 88 College Street, Toronto, M5G 1L4, Ontario, Canada

    Halla Thorsteinsdóttir

  3. Research Assistant, Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, 88 College Street, Toronto, M5G 1L4, Ontario, Canada

    Uyen Quach

  4. Co-Director, Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health and Sun Life Financial Chair, Director of University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, M5G 1L4, Ontario, Canada

    Peter A Singer

  5. Director of Ethics and Policy, McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, Professor of Public Health Sciences and Surgery, University of Toronto, and Co-Director, Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, 88 College Street, Toronto, M5G 1L4, Ontario, Canada

    Abdallah S Daar

Authors
  1. Basma Abdelgafar
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  2. Halla Thorsteinsdóttir
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  3. Uyen Quach
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  4. Peter A Singer
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  5. Abdallah S Daar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Halla Thorsteinsdóttir.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Abdelgafar, B., Thorsteinsdóttir, H., Quach, U. et al. The emergence of Egyptian biotechnology from generics. Nat Biotechnol 22 (Suppl 12), DC25–DC30 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1204supp-DC25

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