A*Star's Philip Yeo and NNI's Lee Wei Ling trade barbs over the direction Singapore's biomed research drive should take
AT THE centre of the sprawling $500 million Biopolis is a shining $250,000 sculpture of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus.
Here, in the open air, researchers of all shades lounge with coffee cups in hand. The talk: the boxing match that had been playing out before them for the past week.
There is a lot of money riding on the outcome of the bout, which has the feisty Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) chairman Philip Yeo in one corner and the equally outspoken National Neuroscience Institute head Lee Wei Ling, in the other.
Mr Yeo, Singapore's science salesman, has been leading the research charge - scouring the world for foreign heavyweights and training the next generation of top scientists.
Having made a hugely successful bet on the petrochemical industry, he is convinced that research 'whales' are needed to take research in cancer and heart disease to a higher plane.
Challenger Dr Lee wants Singapore to change direction in its multi-billion dollar biomedical sciences (BMS) research drive, which she says has gone astray.
'At the end of the day, I want biomedical research to benefit patients, and as a Singaporean, I do not want taxpayers' money to go to waste,' she said.
Among her criticisms: Biomedical resources were spread too thinly and that Singapore should focus on niche areas such as hepatitis B and head injuries, instead of competing with the West on big-name research.
Both have come out arms swinging. Mr Yeo noted that Dr Lee had never stepped into the Biopolis and did not understand that this was no short-term effort that would lead to swift returns.
Dr Lee retorted that Mr Yeo might be a successful salesman but he was no doctor, and therefore, not in touch with diseases that matter here.
Foreign researchers who have moved here are understandably worried about descriptions of them as 'footloose' scientists.
Genome Institute of Singapore chief Edison Liu, a cancer expert from the United States National Institutes of Health, became a Singapore permanent resident on Friday, the day he turned 55.
'I quit a permanent position in the US to come here because I believed in Singapore's vision, and I am committed to this country,' he said.
'I am amazed at its development and I plan on staying.'
He said he was puzzled by the controversy over medical relevance given that his institute focused on medical questions that were important here, including key research that helped resolve the 2003 Sars crisis in Singapore.
In cyberspace, opinion is divided, but talk centres on who will ultimately prevail in the heavyweight clash.
One blogger described it as a clash of the titans with a member of the Lee family pitted against a top civil servant.
Other unrelated aspects of the clash have also coloured the talk.
That Dr Lee blew the whistle on Dr Simon Shorvon, her NNI predecessor - for unethical conduct, pops up often in conversation. He was sacked here and sanctioned, but in Britain, where he now works, the medical council dropped his case.
That her examples of research that Singapore should pursue include areas the NNI are focused on have given rise to unkind comments that she covets funding for her own institute.
No, says Dr Lee, she is fighting to promote all areas where Singapore has a competitive advantage and which are important here, including liver, gastric and breast cancers.
Researchers say that the daughter of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and sister of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong might well have enough persuasive powers to shift the tide.
They recall too how Mr Yeo, a man never to mince words, had pooh-poohed the relevance of the then Institute of Molecular Agrobiology - a key research institute here - in 2001.
His riposte then: 'It's a criminal waste of taxpayers' money.
'I would close it down tomorrow if I could...We have no agriculture.'
The gloves are off
MR YEO has been as colourful this time. And it is apparent that he and his A*Star colleagues had been expecting Dr Lee to land more punches ever since her article appeared in The Straits Times on the issue in November.
They did not react until Dr Lee reached a wider audience when she gave an interview with the news agency Reuters earlier this month.
Then the gloves came off.
An indication: Just five days after, at a press conference, the executive director of the A*Star Biomedical Research Council Beh Swan Gin picked up a piece of paper and read from it: 'I've been instructed to make this statement by our leaders. Which is that 'the BMS initiative has been successful and there is no rethink or change in the government's BMS policy.''
Quizzed by reporters, Mr Yeo, who was at the same event, declared that he would leave dealing with the vocal criticism to incoming A*Star chairman Lim Chuan Poh whom he described as 'more polite'.
Then eyes flashing, he carried on: 'For me, I've got a job to do. My job is to steal whales and steal young guppies...These are my main concerns.'
The whales, such as cancer experts David Lane and Edison Liu, were needed as role models and mentors for the guppies.
The number of guppies enrolled in elite universities abroad rolled off his tongue: 'We have now 25 PhDs at Stanford, 118
PhDs at MIT, six at Harvard, 20 in Cambridge in the UK, they just went in 2005.'
He is well-known for lavishing his personal attention on them. These scholars, who address him as 'chairman' have an open line to him. He in turn can rattle off not just their names and areas of study, but also their hobbies, family backgrounds and grade point averages - to three decimal places.
Adding that Dr Lee had never stepped into the Biopolis, he asked: 'Who cares about one voice in the wilderness?
'How many people get head injuries? Get hepatitis? Young kids after 1987 have been vaccinated. Hepatitis is not relevant to us. Head injuries? Unless you bang your head against the wall...'
Cancer happened not just to the old, but young people as well, he said.
The foundation for biomedical sciences has been set with output by Singapore's drug factories jumping by over a third last year, pushing overall biomedical production up by 30.2 per cent.
This robust growth puts biomedical output at a record $23 billion, almost four times production in 2000.
The fledgling biomedical sector already accounts for one quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) generated by the manufacturing industry as a whole, making it second only to electronics, which accounts for 29 per cent.
The biomedical sciences cluster employed 10,571 people last year, up 3.9 per cent from 2005.
Not a lone voice
STRESSING she was 'no voice in the wilderness', Dr Lee has countered: 'I have received more fanmail than I can remember from Singapore doctors and researchers thanking me for pointing out the obvious mistake in the way the biomedical drive has been carried out.'
To be sure, she has fans, among them doctors and scientists from Singapore and indeed, the Biopolis.
One doctor e-mailed her: 'I cannot agree with you more on the point that we need to focus on niche areas that are of local or regional concerns. Some of our highly respected professors have led by their excellent examples in how they prioritise and focus on the problems we see at our 'doorsteps'.'
Another said he was hoping 'her voice will get through to the ivory tower which has so far been sound-proof.'
Dr Lee added: 'Many local diseases which are potential niche areas are also diseases where to date there is no satisfactory treatment.
'Not only does it make financial and strategic sense to concentrate on these areas, we owe it to our own citizens and our ethnically-related neighbours in Asia.'
Carrying through the whale and guppy analogy, she said that promising local researchers would be more aptly called dolphins.
'Our dolphins can travel pretty fast on their own,' she said.
'I would say that Mr Philip Yeo, having never practised as a doctor, is strategising about biomedical research directions in an ivory tower. That is why he can dismiss hepatitis B and head injury as unimportant.
'Head injury is one of the leading causes of death and disability in young people.'
And the referee's decision...
THERE is no question that both Dr Lee and Mr Yeo have Singapore's best interests at heart.
But their opinions could not be more different - change direction and minimise the damage says one; stay the course and reap the rewards, says the other.
The stakes are high.
New research shows that around the world, biotech's shine could be dulling.
A recent Harvard Business School article quoted Business Administration professor Gary Pisano as saying that the biotech business - caught between the differing needs of business and science, had underperformed. The industry needed to realign itself to integrate research and focus on long-term efforts, he said.
Singapore might have the odds stacked against it even higher.
The World Bank said late last year that the Republic had a 50-50 chance of succeeding in its drive. Some of the challenges included lack of scale, heavy dependence on foreign researchers and long gestation periods.
Mr Yeo has opted to speak no further on the matter.
Dr Lee, on her part, says that she was not hitting below the belt.
'I'm not picking a quarrel with Philip, I'm not interested in taking on titans, neither am I a titan myself.
'There was a lot of thunder, lightning, fireworks. It wasn't from me.
'I'm merely trying to point out, in a series of logical arguments, why we should change direction.'
She reiterated that big-name biomedical companies set up shop here because the Government promoted foreign investment and enacted strong IP laws.
To date, none of the massive Economic Development Board- or A*Star-initiated biomedical research drives have resulted in pharmaceuticals or devices ready for the production line, she maintained.
On the flip side, critics of this argument counter that research and industry development go hand in hand. Companies would not have come if not for a strong scientific and technological base to anchor them here, they say.
Dr Lee added that she was not trying to score points. 'I have my life to live, I leave it to my other family members to do their duty,' she said.
Neither side is down for the count.
But the referee has weighed in.
'We believe that our biomedical effort is heading in the right direction, but we will continue to fine-tune our policies as we gain more experience,' said the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday.
Responding to queries, a spokesman noted that A*Star was doing important work in biomedical research, which had contributed significantly to the growth of the biomedical sector and the creation of high value jobs.
Singapore's small size and limited resources called for focus in its efforts, which A*Star has been doing. By looking at cancer and heart disease, for example - the top killers in Singapore and the rest of the world - A*Star was placing priority on ground-breaking research in these areas, to help develop more effective treatments.
'The emphasis on talent development and close public-private sector research collaboration has put us on the world map,' said the spokesman.
To those sitting on the fence, that sounds like an endorsement for the status quo from officialdom.
ailien@sph.com.sg
' Who cares about one voice in the wilderness? Hepatitis is not relevant to us. Head injuries? Unless you bang your head against the wall...' -Mr Philip Yeo on Dr Lee's opinion as to what areas the biomedical sector should tackle
'Mr Philip Yeo, having never practised as a doctor, is strategising about biomedical research directions in an ivory tower.' Dr Lee Wei Ling who added that her 'fan mail' over the issue proves she is no voice in the wilderness
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