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  • Services Sector

  • Intellectual Property Rights in India

    What are IPRs?

    Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are legal rights, which result from intellectual invention, innovation and discovery in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. These rights entitle an individual or group to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creation.

     

    Types:

    Patent- It is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention.

    Copyright- It is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. It includes literary & artistic works such as novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, architectural designs

    Trademark- It is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others. Trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks.

    Industrial design right- It is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three-dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft.

    Trade secret- It is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, commercial method, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable by others, and by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers

    Geographical Indication (GI)- It is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g. a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin. A recent example is of Indian variety of Basmati rice getting GI tag.

    From above points, it is clear that IPR is a very sensitive issue in terms of businesses different kinds and international relations as well.

    IPRs in pharmaceutical sector:

    Some sectors are very sensitive in terms of IPRs like pharmaceuticals. Let’s explore briefly into IPR issues in pharmaceutical sector.

    We hear of two kinds of drugs- generic and brand name drugs:

    Generic drugs are those whose patent has expired or does not exist and which can be produced by any registered manufacturer without need of taking permission from any authority and also without any payment of royalty.

    Brand name drugs are those which are patented and cannot be produced without the consent of the patent holder. A royalty is to be paid for production of these drugs.

    But what happens if a company holds patent of an essential drug and there is an emergency in which the drug needs to be provided at low cost for vast populace? In this case, Compulsory Licensing comes to the rescue.

    What is Compulsory Licensing?

    • A compulsory license provides that the owner of a patent or copyright licenses the use of their rights against a payment. This payment is either set by law or determined through some form of arbitration
    • In essence, under a compulsory license, an individual or company seeking to use another’s intellectual property can do so without seeking the rights holder’s consent, and pays the rights holder a set fee for the license
    • This is an exception to the general rule under intellectual property laws that the intellectual property owner enjoys exclusive rights that it may license – or decline to license – to others

    Does there have to be an emergency?

    Not necessarily. This is a common misunderstanding. The TRIPS Agreement does not specifically list the reasons that might be used to justify compulsory licensing. However, the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health confirms that countries are free to determine the grounds for granting compulsory licences.

    In March 2012, India granted its first compulsory license ever. The license was granted to Indian generic drug manufacturer Natco Pharma Ltd for Sorafenib tosylate, a cancer drug patented by Bayer.

    Here, first thing first, What is TRIPS?

    • TRIPS is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulations as applied to the nationals of other WTO Members
    • It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994
    • TRIPS requires WTO members to provide copyright rights, covering content producers including performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations, geographical indications, including appellations of origin, industrial designs, integrated circuit layout-designs, patents, new plant varieties, trademarks, trade dress, and undisclosed or confidential information
    • The agreement also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures

    Now, back to the topic


    India is a huge market for generic drugs and hence it is very obvious that there must emerge issues out of patents for pharmaceuticals.

    One such case came up in 1998- Novartis v. Union of India & Others

    It was a landmark decision by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, on the issue of whether Novartis could patent Glivec in India. It was the culmination of a seven-year-long litigation fought by Novartis. The Supreme Court upheld the Indian patent office’s rejection of the patent application.

    Ground of rejection?

    Novartis claimed patent for he changed form of Glivec on the basis of the increased bio-availability in the body of the patient by making changes in chemical composition of its original anti-cancer drug Imatinib Mesylate. This changed form of the drug could not withstand the ‘enhanced therapeutic efficacy’ test enshrined under Section 3(d) of Indian Patents Act and therefore it was rejected.

    Recently, Gilead got patent for its Hepatitis C drug Solvadi. An application for the same patent was first rejected in January 2015 as lacking inventiveness and novelty. The decision, however, is seen as a major blow to the access to drug movement

    Now let’s turn towards the latest developments in the IPRs in India.

    New IPR Policy

    Govt of India recently released a new National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy which is in compliance with WTO’s agreement on TRIPS

    Why a new policy?

    • Global drug brands led by US companies have been pushing for changes to India’s intellectual property rules for quite some time now. They have often complained about India’s price controls and marketing restrictions
    • Also, an IPR policy is important for the government to formulate incentives in the form of tax concessions to encourage research and development (R&D)
    • It is also critical to strengthen the Make In India, Startup and Digital India schemes
    • The IPR policy comes at a time when India and other emerging countries faces fresh challenges from the developed world and mega regional trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

    Seven objectives:

    1. IPR Awareness: To create public awareness about the economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society
    2. Generation of IPRs: To stimulate the generation of IPRs
    3. Legal and Legislative Framework: To have strong and effective IPR laws, which balance the interests of rights owners with larger public interest
    4. Administration and Management: To modernize and strengthen service-oriented IPR administration
    5. Commercialization of IPRs: Get value for IPRs through commercialization
    6. Enforcement and Adjudication: To strengthen the enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms for combating IPR infringements
    7. Human Capital Development: To strengthen and expand human resources, institutions and capacities for teaching, training, research and skill building in IPRs

    Highlights:

    • The new policy calls for providing financial support to the less empowered groups of IP owners or creators such as farmers, weavers and artisans through financial institutions like rural banks or co-operative banks offering IP-friendly loans
    • The work done by various ministries and departments will be monitored by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), which will be the nodal department to coordinate, guide and oversee implementation and future development of IPRs in India
    • The policy, with a tagline of Creative India: Innovative India, also calls for updating various intellectual property laws, including the Indian Cinematography Act, to remove anomalies and inconsistencies in consultation with stakeholders
    • For supporting financial aspects of IPR commercialisation, it asks for financial support to develop IP assets through links with financial institutions, including banks, VC funds, angel funds and crowd-funding mechanisms
    • To achieve the objective of strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat IPR infringements, it called for taking actions against attempts to treat generic drugs as spurious or counterfeit and undertake stringent measures to curb manufacture and sale of misbranded, adulterated and spurious drugs
    • The policy will be reviewed after every five years to keep pace with further developments in the sector

    International angle:

    Last month, the US Trade Representative kept India, China and Russia on its “Priority Watch List” for inadequate improvement in IPR protection. However, brushing aside concerns of the US on India’s IPR regime, the government said its intellectual property rights laws are legal-equitable and WTO-compliant. Thus, the government has not yielded to pressure from the United States to amend India’s patent laws.

    Benefits:

    • The new policy will try to safeguard the interests of rights owners with the wider public interest, while combating infringements of intellectual property rights
    • By 2017, the window for trademark registration will be brought down to one month. This will help in clearing over 237,000 pending applications in India’s four patent offices
    • It also seeks to promote R&D through tax benefits available under various laws and simplification of procedures for availing of direct and indirect tax benefits
    • Unlike earlier where copyright was accorded to only books and publications, the recast regime will cover films, music and industrial drawings
    • A host of laws will also be streamlined — on semi-conductors, designs, geographical indications, trademarks and patents
    • The policy also puts a premium on enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection
    • Policy will provide both domestic and foreign investors a stable IPR framework in the country
    • This will promote a holistic and conducive ecosystem to catalyse the full potential of intellectual property for India’s growth and socio-cultural development while protecting public interest
    • It is expected to lay the future roadmap for intellectual property in India, besides putting in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review
    • The idea is to incorporate global best practices in the Indian context and adapt to the same

    Challenges:

    • According to the policy, India will retain the right to issue so-called compulsory licenses to its drug firms, under “emergency” conditions
    • Also, the government has indicated that there is no urgent need to change patent laws that are already fully World Trade Organization-compliant. So India has resisted pressure from the US and other Western countries to amend its patent laws
    • The policy also specifically does not open up Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, which sets the standard for what is considered an invention in India, for reinterpretation

     

    Published with inputs from Swapnil

     

  • NPA Crisis

    • What is NPA?
    • Impact of NPA on economy
    • Reasons for the rise in NPA in recent years
    • Why most NPA in Public sector?
    • Steps taken by RBI and Government in last few years to curb NPA
    • How to curb the menace of NPA

    source

    According to RBI’s recent data, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks are just under Rs 4 lakh crore, and they collectively account for 90 percent of such rotten apples in the country’s banking portfolio.

    In terms of net NPAs, their share is even higher – at 92 percent of the total bad loans reported so far in the banking system. The total NPAs of Indian banks, as a percentage of the total loans, has grown from 2.11 per cent(2008) to 5.08 percent(2016).

    In this article we will explain what is NPA, The reason why NPA increased in India and steps taken by Government in recent years to curb the menace of NPA and what else needs to be done.

    What is NPA?

    • The assets of the banks which don’t perform (that is – don’t bring any return) are called Non Performing Assets (NPA) or bad loans. Bank’s assets are the loans and advances given to customers. If customers don’t pay either interest or part of principal or both, the loan turns into bad loan.
    • According to RBI, terms loans on which interest or instalment of principal remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days from the end of a particular quarter is called a Non-performing Asset.
    • However, in terms of Agriculture / Farm Loans; the NPA is defined as under: For short duration crop agriculture loans such as paddy, Jowar, Bajra etc. if the loan (installment / interest) is not paid for 2 crop seasons, it would be termed as a NPA. For Long Duration Crops, the above would be 1 Crop season from the due date.
    source

    Impact of NPA on Economy

    The problem of NPAs in the Indian banking system is one of the foremost and the most formidable problems that had impact the entire banking system. Higher NPA leads to following adverse impact on Economy:

    1. Depositors do not get rightful returns and many times may lose uninsured deposits. Banks may begin charging higher interest rates on some products to compensate Non-performing loan losses
    2. Bank shareholders are adversely affected
    3. Bad loans imply redirecting of funds from good projects to bad ones. Hence, the economy suffers due to loss of good projects and failure of bad investments
    4. When bank do not get loan repayment or interest payments, liquidity problems may ensue.

    Reasons for the rise in NPA in recent years

    • GDP slowdown: Between early 2000’s and 2008 Indian economy were in the boom phase. During this period Banks especially Public sector banks lent extensively to corporates. However, the profits of most of the corporate dwindled due to slowdown in the global and domestic economy, bans in mining projects, delays in environmental related permits ,Land acquisition hurdles and volatility in prices of raw material. This has adversely affected their ability to pay back loans and is the most important reason behind increase in NPA of public sector banks.
    • Relaxed lending Norms: One of the main reasons of rising NPA was the relaxed lending norms especially for corporate honchos when their financial status and credit rating was not analyzed properly. Also, to face competition banks were hugely selling unsecured loans .
    • Priority Sector Lending: There is a myth that main reason for rise in NPA in Public sector banks was Priority sector lending as according to the findings of Standing Committee on Finance , NPAs in the corporate sector are far higher than those in the priority or agriculture sector. However, even if PSL is not the main cause but it is still a cause for rising NPA which can be seen from the fact that As per the latest estimates by the SBI, education loans constitute 20% of its NPAs.
    • The Lack of Bankruptcy code in India and sluggish legal system makes it difficult for banks to recover these loans from both corporate and noncorporate.

    Other factors

    • Banks did not conducted adequate contingency planning, especially for mitigating project risk. They did not factor eventualities like failure of gas projects to ensure supply of gas or failure of land acquisition process for highways.
    • Restructuring of loan facility was extended to companies that were facing larger problems of over-leverage & inadequate profitability. This problem was more in the Public sector banks.
    • Companies with dwindling debt repayment capacity were raising more & more debt from the system.

    Why most NPA in Public sector?

    • Five sectors Textile, aviation, mining, Infrastructure contributes to most of the NPA, since most of the loan given in these sector are by PSB, they account for most of the NPA.
    • Public Sector banks provide around 80% of the credit to industries and it is this part of the credit distribution that forms a great chunk of NPA. Last year, when kingfisher was marred in financial crisis, SBI provided it huge amount of loan which it is not able to recover from it.
    • Less Professional management
    • Political Pressure and interference forces PSB to lend to not so commercially sounds project.

    Steps taken by RBI and Government in last few years to curb NPA

    • Government has launched Mission Indradhanush to make the working of public sector bank more transparent and professional in order to curb the menace of NPA in future.
    • Government has also proposed to introduce Bankruptcy code which will make it easier for banks to Recover the loans from the debtors.
    • RBI introduced number of measures in last few years which include:
      • Tightening the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) mechanism,
      • Setting up a Joint Lenders’ Forum, prodding banks to disclose the real picture of bad loans, asking them to increase provisioning for stressed assets,
      • Introducing a 5:25 scheme where loans are to be amortized over 25 years with refinancing option after every five years, and
      • Empowering them to take majority control in defaulting companies under the Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme.

    How to curb the menace of NPA?

    #1. Short Term measures

    • Review of NPA’S/Restructured advances- We need to assess the viability case by case. Viable accounts need to be given more finance for turnaround and unviable accounts should either be given to Asset Reconstruction Company or Management/ownership restructuring or permitting banks to take over the units.
    • Bankruptcy code should be passed as soon as possible. Bankruptcy code will make it easier for banks to recover loans from unviable enterprises.
    • Government should establish ARC with equity contribution from the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The established ARC should take the tumor (of non-performing assets or NPAs) out” of the banking system. An ARC acquires bad loans from banks and financial institutions, usually at a discount, and works to recover them through a variety of measures, including sale of assets or a turnaround steered by professional management. Relieved of their NPA burden, the banks can focus on their core activity of lending.

    #2. Long term Measures

    • Improving credit risk management– This includes credit appraisal, credit monitoring, and efficient system of fixing accountability and analyzing trends in group leverage to which the borrowing firm belongs to
    • Sources/structure of equity capital– Banks need to see that promoter’s contribution is funded through equity and not debt.
    • Banks should conduct necessary sensitivity analysis and contingency planning while appraising the projects and it should built adequate safeguards against such external factors.
    • Strengthen credit monitoring– Develop an early warning mechanism and comprehensive MIS(Management information system) can play an important role in it.MIS must enable timely detection of problem accounts, flag early signs of delinquencies and facilitate timely information to management on these aspects.
    • Enforce accountability- Till now lower ring officials considered accountable even though loaning decisions are taken at higher level. Thus sanction official should also share the burden of responsibility.
    • Restructured accounts should treated as non performing and technical write offs where Banks remove NPA’S from their balance sheets Permanently should be dispensed with.
    • Address corporate governance issues in PSB- This includes explicit fit and proper criteria for appointment of top executives and instituting system of an open market wide search for Chairman.

    References:

  • Tobacco: The Silent Killer

  • Tiger Conservation Efforts – Project Tiger, etc.

  • Land Reforms

    Land Reforms In India: An Unfinished Business

    The Traditional Land Reforms

    The Britishers in India were not at all keen in adopting progressive land reforms measures for the rural farmers. So, after independence, we adopted several measures to usher in long stalled land reforms.

    1. Abolition of Intermediaries

    Intermediaries like Zamindars, Talukdars, Jagirs and Inams had dominated the agricultural sector in India by the time the country attained independence. Soon after independence, measures for the abolition of the Zamindari system were adopted in different states.

    Reason: This kind of system was exploitative for tenants and Zamindars never invested in agriculture because their rights were not permanent, which ultimately led to low production.

    Outcome: Tenants came in direct contact with government, though he continued to pay rent which was very nominal. This was the most successful land reform in the country, but it benefited only one class of tenants, who were owners of land prior to British land revenue system

    1. Tenancy Reforms

    This reform sought to provide security of tenure to tenants, so that land owners cannot evict them arbitrarily along with regulation of rent. This reform sought to prevent exploitation and giving security of tenure so that they could invest in land. This reform required tenants to legally register with the govt. in order to get protection.

    Outcome: This reform was not very successful, except in states of West Bengal and Kerala, because of lack of political will at the state level. Moreover, since landowners were politically active, they didn’t allow the tenants to register with govt. 

    3. Ceiling on Land holdings and Redistribution of Surplus land

    The third important step of land reforms relates to the imposition of ceiling on land holdings. Ceiling on land holdings implies the fixing of the maximum amount of land that an individual or family can possess.

    This reform sought to bring parity in terms of distribution of land through two aspects: one, the fixation of ceiling limit and two, the acquisition of surplus land and its distribution among the small farmers and landless workers. This reform was accompanied by Bhoodan movement, (launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave)

    Outcome: Actually, the limit on ceiling was kept very high and the redistributed land was mostly infertile land

    4. Consolidation of Land Holdings

    Consolidation of Holdings means bringing together the various small plots of land of a farmer scattered all over the village as one compact block, either through purchase or exchange of land with others.

    Reason: The average size of land holdings in India is very small. The size of the holdings is decreasing but number of holdings is increasing over time. This is due to the inheritance laws. If farms are small and scattered, we cannot go for mechanization, etc.

    Oucome: Not very successful, because the owners did not had conclusive rights so there was fear among farmers that they may lose land ownership. Moreover, there is mix of fertile and non-fertile land, so it was difficult to get same quality of land.

    5. Cooperative Farming

    It has been advocated to solve the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of holdings. In this system, farmers pool their small holdings for the purpose of cultivation and reap benefits of large scale farming.

    Reason: Economies of scale can reduce input cost

    Outcome: This was the least successful land reform in the country due to inconclusive ownership rights.

    Current Scenario

    Now, the land ceiling cannot be implemented because landholdings are small, but, land consolidation and tenancy reforms are more relevant now.

    Market-led Land Reforms

    These reforms come into picture after the 1991 economic reforms, which gave private sector larger role to play. Post-1991 reforms, land became important for industrial and infrastructure as well, along with agriculture.

    1. Modernization of Land Records

    This reform seeks to solve the issue of inconclusive land ownership rights. This includes survey of land holdings in the country and digitization of land records and revenue records, so there is less subjectivity in terms of ownership rights. It is significant reform because it will facilitate land consolidation.

    National Land Records Modernization Program –  It was launched in 2008, to modernize management of land records, minimize scope of land/property disputes, enhance transparency in the land records maintenance system, and facilitate moving eventually towards guaranteed conclusive titles to immovable properties in the count.

    This will facilitate easy purchase and selling of land.

    2. Facilitating Land Leasing

    There should be compulsory registration for all the land owners and lease holds. Registration of landowners will ensure security of land ownership. They can lease their land to landless/tenants and settle in urban areas. The idea is that, since there is massive rural-urban migration and those who are well-settled in urban areas can lease their land to their village counterparts.

    At present, NITI Aayog is preparing a model agricultural land leasing law, to formalise leasing of agricultural land.

    3. Land Acquisition for Public Purpose

    In 2013, govt. enacted “The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013″, to provide just and fair compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land could be acquired forcibly.

    There was a big debate on this issue over the last year, when NDA govt. brought an amendment bill, which sought to remove all necessary checks (such as consent clause, social impact assessment, minimum consent requirement, etc) in land acquisition for 5 sectors namely – defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors and infrastructure where central govt. owns land.

    Suggested Readings

    1. Indian Express: Farmer needs a new deal
    2. Indian Express: Land Titling

    Published with inputs from Pushpendra

  • Communicable and Non-communicable diseases – HIV, Malaria, Cancer, Mental Health, etc.

    Living with diabetes?

    Image: Source

  • Waste Management – SWM Rules, EWM Rules, etc

  • Biofuel Policy

    Everything you wanted to know about Biofuels

    India is set to announce a policy on flexible-fuel cars, cars that can run on bio-ethanol and petrol, or a blend of both.

    Biofuel production would help farmers by supporting the diversification of agriculture into energy, power and bio-plastics.

    What are Biofuels?

    Simply put, fuels produced directly/indirectly from organic material i.e. biomass including plant materials and animal waste.

    Biofuels can be solid, liquid or gaseous.

    Primary Biofuels

    Those organic materials which are used in an unprocessed form such as fuel wood, wood chips and pellets, primarily for heating, cooking, electricity production.

    Secondary Biofuels

    Those materials which result from processing of biomass.
    Example: Liquid fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel

    What are different generations of Biofuels?

    First Generation

    The first generation fuels are conventional biofuels made from sugar, starch or vegetable.
    Issue: They come from a biomass that is also a food source, so it requires a lot of land to grow at a time when there is food shortage in the world.

    Let’s learn about some of the famous examples in this category.

    Ethanol – It is a type of alcohol which can be produced by any feedstock containing significant amount of sugar. It can be blended with petrol or burned in nearly pure form in slightly modified spark-ignition engines.

    1 litre of ethanol produces energy equivalent to two-third of energy produced by 1 litre of petrol.

    Is there any benefit of blending except providing an alternative to sugar industry? Of course, it improves combustion performance and lowers the emissions of Carbon Mono-oxide and Sulfur Di-oxide.

    Biodiesel – It is produced by combining vegetable oil or animal fat with alcohol. It can be blended with traditional diesel fuel or burned in its pure form in compression ignition engines.

    Source – rapeseed, soyabeen, palm, coconut or jatropha oils.

    Energy content is 88-95 % of diesel

    Second Generation

    They come from non-food biomass such as wood, organic waste, food waste, specific biomass crops.
    Issue: The second-generation fuel sources compete with food production for land.

    Third Generation

    They are specifically engineered crops such as algae as the energy source. These algae are grown and harvested to extract oil within them.

    Fourth Generation

    They are aimed at not only producing sustainable energy but also a way of capturing and storing carbon-dioxide. They are carbon-negative i.e. it takes away more carbon-dioxide than it produces.

    National Policy on Biofuels 2015

    The Policy endeavors to facilitate and bring about optimal development and utilization of indigenous biomass feedstocks for production of bio-fuels.

    • It envisages that biofuels will be produced using non-food feedstock on waste lands
    • Encouraged the use of renewable energy resources as alternate fuels to supplement transport fuels
    • Proposed an indicative target of 20% biofuel blending by 2017
    • Major thrust for development of second generation biofuels
    • A Biofuel Steering Committee will be set up to oversee implementation of the Policy

    Criticism – Govt launched National Biodiesel Mission identifying Jatropha as the most suitable tree-borne oilseed for bio-diesel production, which failed miserably. The policy is also criticized for being largely sugarcane centric.

    What is the proposal under flex-fuel policy?

    It aims at decreasing pollution by adopting cleaner alternatives against fossil fuels. It encourages a diversion in the sugar industry’s output away from sugar towards ethanol.

    Sugar industry has an excess supply problem and it helps farmers because of diversification of agriculture into energy, power and bio-plastics.

    What are the challenges to implement this policy?

    • Additional sugarcane cultivation or it can be met by improved farm practices/HYV canes
    • Installing special dispensing units at petrol pumps across the country
    • Automakers need to be given adequate time to comply
    • Oil marketing companies will have to augment storage capacity for ethanol
    • Reforming tax structure so that transport of ethanol across state boundaries is not expensive
    Published with inputs from Pushpendra

  • Nobel and other Prizes

    Cells’ Toolbox for DNA repair honoured with Nobel Prize in Chemistry

    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 is awarded to Tomas Lindahl (UK), Paul Modrich (USA) and Aziz Sancar (USA) for having mapped, at a molecular level, how cells repair damaged DNA and safeguard the genetic information.

    Their work has provided fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions and is, for instance, used for the development of new cancer treatments.

    What’s the DNA repair toolbox ?

    Each day our DNA is damaged by UV radiation, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, but even without such external attacks, a DNA molecule is inherently unstable.

    Thousands of spontaneous changes to a cell’s genome occur on a daily basis. Furthermore, defects can also arise when DNA is copied during cell division, a process that occurs several million times every day in the human body.

    The reason our genetic material does not disintegrate into complete chemical chaos is that a host of molecular systems continuously monitor and repair DNA.

    The Nobel laureate scientists, who have mapped how several of repair systems function at a detailed molecular level.

     

    Tomas Lindahl – Puts together the pieces of base excision repair

    In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Tomas Lindahl demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made the development of life on Earth impossible. This insight led him to discover a molecular machinery, base excision repair, which constantly counteracts the collapse of our DNA.

    This was the start of 35 years of successful work, during which Tomas Lindahl has found and examined many of the proteins in the cell’s toolbox for DNA repair.

    Bit by bit, Lindahl pieced together a molecular image of how base excision repair functions, a process in which glycosylases, enzymes similar to the one he had found in 1974, are the first step in the DNA repair process.

    Base excision repair also occurs in human beings and, in 1996, Tomas Lindahl managed to recreate the human repair process in vitro.

    The decisive factor for Tomas Lindahl was the realisation that DNA inevitably undergoes change, even when the molecule is located in the cell’s protective environment. However, it had long been known that DNA can be damaged by environmental assaults such as UV radiation.

    The mechanism used by the majority of cells to repair UV damage, nucleotide excision repair, was mapped by Aziz Sancar, born in Savur, Turkey, and professionally active in the USA.

    Base Excision repair

    Aziz Sancar’s Nucleotide excision repair

    Aziz Sancar has mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA. People born with defects in this repair system will develop skin cancer if they are exposed to sunlight. The cell also utilises nucleotide excision repair to correct defects caused by mutagenic substances, among other things.

    Aziz Sancar’s ability to generate knowledge about the molecular details of the process changed the entire research field. He published his findings in 1983.

    He mapped the next stages of nucleotide excision repair. In parallel with other researchers, including Tomas Lindahl, Sancar investigated nucleotide excision repair in humans.

    The molecular machinery that excises UV damage from human DNA is more complex than its bacterial counterpart but, in chemical terms, nucleotide excision repair functions similarly in all organisms.

    nucleotide_excision_repair

     

    Paul Modrich – illustrating DNA mismatch repair

    Once his father, a biology teacher, said: “You should learn about this DNA stuff.” This was in 1963, the year after James Watson and Francis Crick had been awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA.

    A few years later, that “DNA stuff” really became central to Paul Modrich’s life.

    Paul Modrich has demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division. This mechanism, mismatch repair, reduces the error frequency during DNA replication by about a thousandfold. Congenital defects in mismatch repair are known, for example, to cause a hereditary variant of colon cancer.

    In conclusion, the basic research carried out by the 2015 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry has not only deepened our knowledge of how we function, but could also lead to the development of lifesaving treatments.

    In the words of Paul Modrich: “That is why curiosity-based research is so important. You never know where it is going to lead
 A little luck helps, too.”

     

    Irish-born William Campbell and Japan’s Satoshi Omura won half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis.

    China’s Tu Youyou was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease. She is China’s first Nobel laureate in medicine.

    Lets’s talk about Satoshi Omura’s invention

    Satoshi ƌmura

    So, how did the journey start for Satoshi Omura?

    Satoshi Omura, a Japanese microbiologist and expert in isolating natural products, focused on a group of bacteria, Streptomyces, which lives in the soil and was known to produce a plethora of agents with antibacterial activities (including Streptomycin discovered by Selman Waksman, Nobel Prize 1952).

    Equipped with extraordinary skills in developing unique methods for large-scale culturing and characterization of these bacteria, Omura isolated new strains of Streptomyces from soil samples and successfully cultured them in the laboratory.

    From many thousand different cultures, he selected about 50 of the most promising, one of these cultures later turned out to be Streptomyces avermitilis, the source of Avermectin, a medicine that has nearly eradicated river blindness and radically reduced the incidence of filariasis, which can cause the disfiguring swelling of the lymph system in the legs and lower body known as elephantiasis.

     

    Bacteria.

    Puzzle about River Blindness?

    Also known as onchocerciasis or Robles’ Disease, is caused by transmission of the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus by black flies of the genus Simulium. Vector lives near rivers, thus the name.Inside the host, the worms create larvae that travel to the skin, and infect other flies that bite the victim.

    Symptoms include severe itching, eruptions under the skin, and blindness. About 17-25 million are infected; some 0.8 million have some degree of vision loss. Most infections in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Then, what about Lymphatic Filariasis or Commonly known as elephantiasis ?

    It is tropical disease caused by transmission of parasites classified as nematodes (roundworms) of the family Filariodideato, to humans by mosquitoes.

    Adult worms lodge in lymphatic system and disrupt immune system. Causes abnormal enlargement of body parts, pain, severe disability and social stigma.

    Over 120 million people are infected, about 40 million disfigured or incapacitated. About 1.23 billion in 58 countries are threatened, 80% of whom live in 10 countries, including India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

    Our next Pioneer William C. Campbell

    William C. Campbell

    An expert in parasite biology working in the USA, acquired Omura’s Streptomyces cultures and explored their efficacy.

    Campbell showed that a component from one of the cultures was remarkably efficient against parasites in domestic and farm animals.

    The bioactive agent was purified and named Avermectin, which was subsequently chemically modified to a more effective compound called Ivermectin. 

    Ivermectin was later tested in humans with parasitic infections and effectively killed parasite larvae (microfilaria) .

    Collectively, Omura and Campbell’s contributions led to the discovery of a new class of drugs with extraordinary efficacy against parasitic diseases.

     

    Scheme.

     

    What a breakthrough, China’s first Nobel laureate in medicine, Let’s talk about it?

     

    Youyou Tu

    Ms. Youyou Tu, won Nobel in Medicine for a therapy against malaria.

    Malaria was traditionally treated by chloroquine or quinine, but with declining success. By the late 1960s, efforts to eradicate Malaria had failed and the disease was on the rise.

    At that time, Youyou Tu in China turned to traditional herbal medicine to tackle the challenge of developing novel Malaria therapies.

    Tu revisited the ancient literature and discovered clues that guided her in her quest to successfully extract the active component from Artemisia annua. 

    Tu was the first to show that this component, later called Artemisinin, was highly effective against the Malaria parasite, both in infected animals and in humans.

    Artemisinin represents a new class of antimalarial agents that rapidly kill the Malaria parasites at an early stage of their development, which explains its unprecedented potency in the treatment of severe Malaria.

     

    Herbal medicine

     

    How do you think these inventions will change the world?

    The discoveries of Avermectin and Artemisinin have fundamentally changed the treatment of parasitic diseases.

    Ivermectin is highly effective against a range of parasites, has limited side effects and is freely available across the globe.

    The importance of Ivermectin for improving the health and wellbeing of millions of individuals with River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, primarily in the poorest regions of the world, is immeasurable.

    Treatment is so successful that these diseases are on the verge of eradication, which would be a major feat in the medical history of humankind. Malaria infects close to 200 million individuals yearly.

    Artemisinin is used in all Malaria-ridden parts of the world. When used in combination therapy, it is estimated to reduce mortality from Malaria by more than 20% overall and by more than 30% in children. For Africa alone, this means that more than 100 000 lives are saved each year.

    The discoveries of Avermectin and Artemisinin have revolutionized therapy for patients suffering from devastating parasitic diseases.

    Campbell, ƌmura and Tu have transformed the treatment of parasitic diseases. The global impact of their discoveries and the resulting benefit to mankind are immeasurable.

    Published with inputs from Arun