The 21st Century has been dubbed by many to be the bio-century. Advancements in biotechnology and the biosciences are fueling breakthroughs that hold out the promise for treatments and cures to life threatening and debilitating diseases. At the heart of these breakthroughs are talented Pennsylvanians at our institutions and companies who are working to target, treat, cure, and possibly even reverse the effects of disease to improve patients’ lives and gain knowledge that can be applied to other unmet medical needs.

In many cases today, surgeries and long hospital stays can be avoided, and with a continuing emphasis on research, more breakthroughs will happen. The value of the research that brings about these advancements is inestimable. Two recent events—the 50th anniversary of the Salk Polio vaccine and the announcement that rubella has been eliminated in the United States draws national and international attention to the Commonwealth and the research happening here. These events should remind us of the great strides we have made and the work that is still left to be done. They should also serve to remind us all of the continuing commitment we need to make to the biosciences in Pennsylvania.

Success

April 12, 1955 marked one of the nation’s great research advancements—the announcement that the trials of the Salk Polio Vaccine proved the vaccine safe and effective. This vaccine, developed by a team of researchers led by Dr. Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh, brought to an end the national health nightmare caused by the polio virus. By the 1950s, the United States was gripped by the fear of polio, forcing the closing of swimming pools, movie theaters and other public places. Americans nationwide rallied behind a search for a way to prevent this disease.

Nearly 60,000 people had been diagnosed with polio by 1952, many of them children. Because of Salk’s work, cases of polio in the U.S. dropped dramatically. According to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, from 1955-1958, the three years following the widespread use of the vaccine, cases of polio dropped between 85%-90%.

In another recent milestone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared on March 21, 2005, that Rubella, commonly known as German measles, has been eliminated in the United States. The Rubella vaccine is now a standard immunization in the U.S. and holds the promise to eliminate the disease in other parts of the world. So what’s the Pennsylvania connection? The scientific breakthrough that brought about the rubella vaccine came from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.

In making the announcement, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “The elimination of rubella in the United States is a tremendous step in protecting the health and well being of pregnant women and infants. A disease that once seriously harmed tens of thousands of infants is no longer a major health threat, thanks to a safe and effective vaccine and successful immunization programs across the country. We should take pride in this accomplishment, and also recognize that we must maintain our vigilance or we can see a resurgence of disease.”

More to Come

Dr. Gerberding’s comment that we should take pride in this accomplishment is particularly apt in Pennsylvania. We have a lot to be proud of given Pennsylvania’s heritage of innovation and with current research happening across the Commonwealth.

University of Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon University. Windber Research Institution. Geisinger. The Pennsylvania State University. University of Pennsylvania. Thomas Jefferson University. Fox Chase Cancer Center. Temple University. Drexel University. These are just a few of our world-class research institutions in Pennsylvania.

In 2003, Pennsylvania was #4 in the United States for funding awards through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with two universities in the top 10—University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh. Researchers in Pennsylvania received in total $1.3 billion in NIH grants and contracts, and the preliminary totals for 2004 show that we will again grow our NIH funding—not including R&D contracts, Pennsylvania institutions received more than $1.3 billion. And the amount being invested in R&D by biotech, device, diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies across the Commonwealth far exceeds this.

Continuing investment in research, through both private and public means is critical. As Dr. Arthur Levine, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean, School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said: “Had we never engaged in scientific research we would have a very different society and culture today. In terms of healthcare advancements, the polio vaccine, for example, is able to prevent the transmission of a terrible and painful disease for just pennies as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars it took to maintain a child who had contracted polio in an iron lung, which was the standard treatment.”

As part of the tobacco settlement, Pennsylvania created the Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Grant Program (CURE). This program invests dollars from the tobacco settlement directly into research projects in Pennsylvania. Since 2001, PA invested more than $228 million of the tobacco settlement funds into research that will have a significant impact on human health.

Just a few of the projects include:

BioInformatics Consortium for Cancer Research—this consortium of cancer institutions across Pennsylvania—Fox Chase Cancer Center, Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State Cancer Institute, the Wistar Institute, and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute—was formed to enable researchers to investigate the clinical usefulness of molecular biomarkers for cancer, to assess patient prognosis and to predict patient response to therapy. The consortium has already used the CURE funding to obtain an additional $4 million from NCI’s Cancer Biomedical Grid.

Blood test for Lung Cancer—Scientists at the Wistar Institute are working to create a blood test that would enable doctors to diagnose early-stage lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the U.S., which was projected to kill more than 160,000 Americans nationwide and nearly 8,000 Pennsylvanians in 2004 alone.

Genetic Underpinnings for Colorectal Cancer—Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University are working to be able to identify who is or is not at risk and target treatments more effectively for the individuals who need them by discovering differences in an individual’s genetic makeup.

Bioimaging technology for research and patient care—Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon Center for Bioimage Informatics are developing new signal processing and imaging analysis techniques to improve bioimaging technology for basic research and diagnostic patient care. This project has already leveraged its funds to secure a multi-million-dollar information technology research grant from the National Science Foundation.

Many other exciting research projects are happening in Pennsylvania, and through the funding received from the CURE program, universities can grow, hire more talented life sciences researchers, and build larger facilities to conduct more research.

According to Dr. Russel Kaufman, president and CEO of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, “Research institutions can expand efforts if they can have a long-term plan with stable support. It can take five-ten years to work through a medical research problem, and institutions need to be able to plan to attract the scientists who can do this. Through our CURE funding, the Wistar has been able to grow from 26 faculty members in 2002 to 35 today, and over the last two and a half years our federal funding has increased more than 50%, from $20 million to $35 million.”

This same scenario is playing out at institutions across Pennsylvania.

Supporting Research and the Growth of the Industry

We need to recognize the strengths and power of Pennsylvania’s scientists—both at our research
institutions and at our companies—and also recognize that research is the beginning of Pennsylvania’s continuum in the biosciences. As I have mentioned in this column many times, Pennsylvania is unique in that it is home to the continuum—world-class basic research, emerging industry, mature industry and global pharmaceuticals.

As Dr. Kaufman points out, Pennsylvania’s combination of hospitals, industry, research institutions and growing access to venture capital presents a huge opportunity: “There’s almost no place like this and we need to articulate that Pennsylvania is a great place to work, invest, do research and provide care to patients.”

Dr. Levine echoes this point, adding that, “Pennsylvania is a very capable state for research. We have tremendous momentum, anchored by two of the nation’s most powerful institutions for NIH-funded research and the additional power of the bio-pharmaceutical industry.”

How we harness these unique strengths and continue to support them will determine our future success. As part of Act 77 of 2001, Pennsylvania took a balanced approach and invested all of its tobacco settlement in the health and welfare of Pennsylvanians. The investment was made to  support all steps along the continuum, and Pennsylvania’s approach has become a national model. This is where Pennsylvania must continue to differentiate itself. Through the continued investment in research; through the life sciences greenhouses, which are helping to support the emerging industry with early-stage risk capital, incubator space and other programs to nurture entrepreneurs and young companies; and through our growing commitment to venture capital, we will not only be a leading location for the biosciences, as we currently are, we will be the world’s next great bioscience center.

Research is critical to our economic future. By discovering new technologies for transfer to the private sector, by creating new companies, and by expanding their own facilities and programs our universities and research institutions are greatly impacting Pennsylvania’s economy. But as both the University of Pittsburgh and the Wistar Institute have clearly demonstrated through the polio and rubella vaccines, research is critical to global health. This is why it’s imperative that the Pennsylvania Legislature continues to support the CURE grant process at current levels. In the 1950s Americans were united in the search for a treatment for polio, we need to stay united in our search for therapies, vaccines, and devices to treat and prevent the many other conditions that are afflicting people globally.