Argentina’s Local Crop Biotechnology Developments: Why Have They Not Reached the Market Yet?

Plant biotechnology in Argentina started at the end of the 1980s, leading to the development of numerous research groups in public institutions and, a decade later, to some local private initiatives. The numerous scientific and technological capacities existing in the country allowed the early constitution in 1991 of a sound genetically modified organisms biosafety regulatory system.

The first commercial approvals began in 1996, and to date, 59 events have obtained permits to be placed on the market, however, only two have been developed locally by public-private partnerships. The transgenic events developed at public institutions pursue different objectives in diverse crops.

However, once these events have been developed in laboratories, it is difficult to move toward a possible commercial approval. In this work, we analyze several reasons that could explain why local developments have not reached approvals for commercialization, highlighting aspects related to the lack of strategic vision in the institutions to focus resources on projects to develop biotechnological products.

Although progress has been made in generating regulatory rules adapted to research institutes (such as the regulations for biosafety greenhouses and ways of presenting applications), researchers still do not conceive regulatory science as a discipline. They generally prefer not to be involved in the design of regulatory field trials or regulatory issues related to the evaluation of events. In that sense, some of the aspects considered a regulatory affairs platform for the public scientific system and the reinforcement of laboratories that perform tests required under the Argentine regulation.

Argentina's Local Crop Biotechnology Developments: Why Have They Not Reached the Market Yet?
Argentina’s Local Crop Biotechnology Developments: Why Have They Not Reached the Market Yet?

Role of Business Models in Funding the Biotech Industry: Global Trends and Challenges for Cuban Biotechnology.

Forty-three years after it was founded, with billions of dollars invested, the global biotech industry is still not positioned as a mature low-risk sector for the international investor com-munity.

Despite the clear commercial success of a number of leading companies and overall growth of the industry’s rev-enues, most biotech companies are not profi table and many fail to overcome the formidable barrier constituted by the high cost of the sector’s research and development. However, over the last four years, visible signs of change have appeared, which could be harbingers of an approaching turning point in this trend.

This article analyzes the historic background of the biotech in-dustry’s business models and corporate structures, as well as their impact on the industry’s fi nancial framework. It examines recent changes implemented by the sector’s main actors-in-cluding young startups, venture capital funds and big pharma companies-to mitigate fi nancial risk associated with develop-ment of new biotechnology products.

EGTA

B7195-1000 1 g
EUR 127.2

EGTA

GE7249-100G 100 g
EUR 180

EGTA

GE7249-10G 10 g
EUR 62.4

EGTA

GE7249-25G 25 g
EUR 84

EGTA

GE7249-50G 50 g
EUR 117.6

EGTA

ED0077 25g
EUR 87.14

EGTA-AM

HY-D0973 5mg
EUR 704.4

EGTA, 99%

GE9981-100G 100 g
EUR 217.2

EGTA, 99%

GE9981-10G 10 g
EUR 73.2

EGTA, 99%

GE9981-250G 250 g
EUR 399.6

EGTA, 99%

GE9981-25G 25 g
EUR 100.8

EGTA, 99%

GE9981-50G 50 g
EUR 144

EGTA AM *CAS 99590-86-0*

21005 10 mg
EUR 211.2

EGTA AM *10 mM DMSO solution*

21006 1 mL
EUR 211.2

EGTA tetrasodium salt *CAS 13368-13-3*

21007 1 g
EUR 138

EGTA tetrasodium salt *10 mM aqueous solution*

21008 10 mL
EUR 138

2xRIPA Buffer IIII with EDTA and EGTA (pH 7.4) 2xconcentrate

RB4477 500ml
EUR 86.1

Finally, it discusses the challenges and opportunities that these tendencies entail for Cuban biotechnology development and proposes adoption of business policies more tolerant of the fi nancial risk inherent in this sector, as a condition for at-tracting venture capital. KEYWORDS Biotechnology, fund raising, risk management, entrepreneurship, Cuba.

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