Invest in our medical scientists

Rep. Joey Salceda did it again. From anticipating the need to respond to natural disasters as governor of Albay, he recently advocated the creation of a Virology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) to help improve our ability to address pandemics.

The proposal passed Congress and was signed by President Duterte. Duterte was also reported to have instructed the Budget department to prioritize funding the VIP.

But the allocation of P280 million is hardly enough for a building to house its research laboratories. Funds must also be set aside to attract some of our best biomedical scientists to work there.

The VIP will, among others, enable us to develop our own vaccines for many virus-related threats, something we used to do decades ago. Joey said the rewards are not immediate, but the consequences of not being prepared can be catastrophic as we now know.

“It shall act as a venue for scientists, both here and abroad, to collaborate in studying viruses of agricultural, industrial, clinical, and environmental importance,” Salceda said.

“We need this institute critically. Agriculture needs it, specially since our plant exports are susceptible to viral infections. Our public health system needs it above all,” Salceda emphasized.

He explained that the VIP would become the research and development unit, while the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) would be the medical laboratory. The VIP will be situated in New Clark City.

Actually, we have some very dedicated scientists already doing research at the UP College of Medicine, even with rather limited funds. Their output has been extremely useful during this pandemic.

The Philippine Genome Center, for instance, is simply indispensable these days as they are responsible for the genetic sequencing of the various COVID variants. Their capability is limited, but their output has given us a good idea of what variants have already taken hold in the country.

PGC must be given more funds to expand their operations. Indeed, we should be doing more genetic sequencing to have a better idea if a variant like Delta is already at the stage of community transmissions. DOH has been saying we do not have the data to confirm this, but this is only because we have not done enough timely genetic sequencing.

Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana has written that they also have “our little laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the UP National Institutes of Health.” They have also been doing viral genomics since 2010 and published sequences for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and some of the first whole genome sequences for HIV in the Philippines.

As for COVID, Dr. Salvana wrote that they have done sequences to investigate specific lineages of the virus and some of its origins. This is important for tracing and to provide data-based inputs for decision making of our health officials.

But Dr. Salvana observed, “funding has been scarce… but we have cobbled together some resources from here and there… veteran researchers are familiar with this exercise…

“The work done in this laboratory has saved countless lives… Some of the first vaccines in the Philippines were produced in this very building.”

Dr. Salvana also explained the role of genome testing.

“There are two main objectives for genome sequencing: surveillance and purposive sampling. Surveillance means that proper systematic sampling is done nationwide. Sentinel sites are selected to cast as wide a net as possible and catch representative cases… The patterns and transmission maps of each variant, called phylogenetic trees, help define the spread of variants in the country…

“When there is a surge of cases, purposive sampling can detect if a variant is causing an outbreak. When there are infections in people who have been vaccinated, purposive sampling can investigate if a variant of concern is becoming more prevalent. Genomic sequencing can therefore guide the wider public health response.”

It may surprise many, but according to Dr. Salvana, we are “extremely fortunate in having state-of-the-art genomic sequencing capabilities and the needed expertise in place prior to the start of the pandemic.”

But he said, “we need to understand how to apply it properly. Harnessing this new technology is the best possible way to save the most lives and get us out of this pandemic sooner.”

Incidentally, it is this same group of scientists from the UP NIH and the Philippine Genome Center that developed a RT-PCR test kit for COVID last year. It received an initial approval from our local FDA with 90 percent accuracy, but it ran into trouble when the reagent used was said to be contaminated.

We never heard anything more about this pioneering venture of our scientists. It could have brought down the cost of RT-PCR tests that are now all imported. They should have been given more government support to get their test acceptable for our pandemic response.

There are many Filipino scientists who can contribute to our country’s needs if only there is a venue for them to do their research. For example, there is Fr. Nicanor Austraco who is working on an affordable yeast-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The Dominican priest is a noted molecular biologist working out of Providence, Rhode Island.

Fr. Austraco has a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He explained that his yeast-based vaccine does not need refrigeration nor healthcare workers to administer. He will do his laboratory experiments in the US and the animal testing in a UST laboratory.

There must be many other Filipino scientists in the biomedical fields working abroad who may consider working here if the conditions are right. We have had programs like balik-scientist in the past, but the program was not sustained, causing disappointment among many who returned.

Let us get it right this time. Let us support our own scientists by making it conducive for them to work in their own country helping their own people.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@boochanco