Aptagen Supports Bush's Stem Cell Decision

[Jeremy]

Aptagen Supports Bush's Stem Cell Decision

Story Filed: Friday, August 10, 2001 11:18 AM EST

HERNDON, Va., Aug 10, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The following statement by Aptagen concerning Bush's stem cell decision was released today:

On August 9 at 9:00 pm EDT, President Bush defined his administration's position on stem cell research and its impact on federal funding for further research. He articulated the huge potential benefits to health care and the lives that could be saved through such work. Bush also described America's and his own personal dilemma over the ethics of federally funding research that borders on the very edges of the most profound and disputed ethical questions of our day -- cloning and abortion. In the end Bush chose a very rational position and policy for a government, while defending private research to proceed unfettered.

This strong position of choice left in the hands of biotechnology firms and privately funded academic and institutional research is a critical component of this issue and an important element of President Bush's plan. This has been mentioned in the press, but not given the attention it deserves. From our perspective at Aptagen, we believe this distinction to be at the very heart of the issue. We believe that science that is worth pursuing can find its funding from willing and agreeable sponsors. It is inappropriate to use tax dollars for research that requires specific actions to which a significant percentage of the population is opposed.

On the other hand, for such an issue it would be equally inappropriate for our government to seek to prohibit private research, especially where the benefits to the United States and humanity as a whole are so profound. We expect that spinal cord injuries, organ transplants, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and a host of other problems will be cured as a direct consequence of embryonic stem cell research. We believe that along with the study of the human genome, proteomics, and other genetic research, stem cell research will play a leading role in the revolution in health care that will occur over the next few decades.

For those of us who believe based on the existing data and those of us who take it on faith that these advances will emerge, we put our money where our beliefs lie. As long as patent law protects drug development by ensuring a reward for the years of research, and as long as federal regulation of the health care industry does not prohibit pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and the private investors who fund them, from earning profit for their successful gambles, they will continue to develop therapies and extend and improve the quality of life in America and around the world.

President Bush did not simply choose a politically expedient position. He justly limited federal spending for a controversial issue, while leaving the increasingly effective biotechnology industry and private research to pursue stem cell research to its noblest goals. He made the only rational decision he could have made and the only decisions his faith would allow him to make. President Bush made the right decision for America and for our future. He chose as a leader must -- based on facts, faith, and reason.

Aptagen is a gene and protein bioengineering company transforming scientific discoveries into commercially viable protein products in the medical, agricultural and chemical industries. Emerging as the leader in DNA engineering technologies, Aptagen has the tools to substantially improve or alter protein function, making drugs safer through reduced side effects and increased efficacy, while simultaneously maximizing expression yield for commercial scale manufacturing. Through Aptagen's Gene Forge(R) codon optimization and custom gene synthesis platform, protein expression can be increased by a factor of ten, decreasing commercial manufacturing costs by 60% or more and accelerating the commercialization of the Human Genome Project. Aptagen's Protein Genesis(TM) molecular evolution platform can be used in tandem with the Gene Forge(R) to create entirely new multi-function proteins, or can be employed to modify and enhance existing proteins to improve functionality and create safer and more potent second-generation biologics.