Why we need to talk about biotechnology

You may remember the famous line from Goethe’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: “Spirits I have conjured, no longer pay me heed.” This ballad, which goes back more than 200 years, deals with a very basic question: What are people capable of doing, and what should they be permitted to do?

This question is more relevant than ever before because we are currently witnessing two parallel revolutions: The first is occurring in the public spotlight and refers to the sea-change in information technology, i.e. artificial intelligence, Big Data, and so on, which will tangibly change our day-to-day lives.

The second revolution, however, is occurring rather quietly in the laboratories of universities, research institutes, and companies. This is the revolution in biotechnology. 

Groundbreaking methods, such as gene editing with CRISPR, will enable us to understand biology in incredible depth – and to modify it.

I am certain that we are currently witnessing the dawn of a new age in biotech. Biology is becoming a kind of creative medium. We will be able to influence biological processes much more effectively than has previously been the case, which will have an impact on many areas of our daily lives. For this reason, we need to bring biotechnology out from its existence in the shadows. We should discuss it with the same passion as we have been talking about the digital revolution for years. 

For me, it is clear that if we take the right approach, we will be able to make huge progress in the next few years with the aid of biotechnology. Here are two brief examples to illustrate this: The first is from the field of medicine. Since the human genome was decoded at the beginning of the century, researchers have been investing great hope in gene therapy. Until now, the initial euphoria has had to give way to a more sober perspective because things are more complicated than we thought. 

Although it is true that mutations in specific genes cause diseases, it’s not just changes in the genome that are the culprits. There is also the proteome, i.e. all of the proteins formed via transcription within the body. There is epigenetics – all those processes within the cells that influence gene activity. And there’s the microbiome – all the bacteria and micro-organisms within the body. We need to better understand all these things. 

Having said this, last year saw a breakthrough in gene therapy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved three medicines in this area, enabling the treatment of specific forms of leukemia, specific types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a rare form of early-onset severe retinal dystrophy. The age of gene therapy is finally here.

In the next few years, we will continue to see the emergence of new therapies because gene therapy has great potential for the treatment of what are known as monogenic diseases, which are clearly linked to one specific defective gene. Two examples are hemophilia and cystic fibrosis, a rare metabolic disorder. But there is also hope for other areas, too, such as the treatment of cancer. 

However, biotechnology is not only opening up new treatment options for hard-to-treat diseases – it will also change the way we eat. Let’s take meat as an example. From an environmental perspective, the way that meat is produced today is extremely problematic, causing almost one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. It uses around 70% of our antibiotics and 70% of available agricultural land. And in terms of demand, we can expect to see consumption double by 2050. 

So if we don’t want cattle to eat up our planet’s natural resources, we have to think about alternatives. One such alternative is the biotechnological production of meat. 

The principle is clear: We remove cells from a cow, for example, and propagate them in a bioreactor. The result is still meat – it’s just produced differently with much lower requirements in terms of resources. This is no longer some kind of farfetched idea. It’s no longer a question of “if” but “when”. One kilo of artificial beef is still much too expensive but, in a few years’ time, it will be able to compete with conventionally produced meat. 

According to estimates, the market for artificial meat could amount to around US$ 100 billion by 2030. A few months ago, we acquired an interest in Mosa Meat, a Dutch start-up, via our venture capital fund. In terms of our business, we see great potential in particular in manufacturing technologies. 

Modern biotechnologies are sure to revolutionize other areas, too. It may even be possible one day to use our DNA as a data storage device, or even manufacture organs via 3D printing. This might still sound like a utopian vision but it’s not. 

But what is most important of all is that we should shape the era of biotechnology in accordance with our standards for ethically responsible behavior. We have to deal with the many questions that progress in biotechnology entails. How can we make personalized medicine achievable for all? How can we prevent bio-hacking or the development of new biological weapons? How can we harness the potential of biotechnology while protecting the security of biological data?

It is good to debate these topics. Because only by doing so can we achieve lasting, widespread acceptance of biotechnology. At Merck, we take this very seriously. We research, develop, and sell a broad portfolio of biotechnologies – including those that can alter the genome of plants, animals, and even humans. And we also use these technologies. 

This results in a very special responsibility. It’s why we discuss all the relevant ethical matters in our Bioethics Advisory Panel, which is made up of doctors, molecular biologists, legal experts, philosophers, and theologians from a wide range of countries and cultural backgrounds. We implement the recommendations of this committee precisely as they are made. And we publish them. You can find our Genome Editing Technology Principle on our website, for example. This clearly states what we do with these promising technologies – and what we don’t do. 

What we decide to do with the various opportunities that biotechnology represents is up to us. It offers us the chance to achieve human progress on an unprecedented scale. We should seize these opportunities, based on our values, and without ideological blinkers. 

So, what I’m interested in now is your opinion: What do you believe are the most promising areas of application? And which aspects need to be discussed?